David Sinclair – The Man Who Unfurled the Secrets of Anti-aging

The man who advanced resveratrol as the elixir of eternal youth is David Sinclair. This Harvard Professor of Pathology was the first to discover in 2003 that that a molecular compound called resveratrol, found in red wine and other plant products, extends the life span of mice by as much as 24 percent and the life span of other animals, such as flies and fish, by as much as 59 percent.

Thanks to the pioneering work of David Sinclair, resveratrol has since grown in repute phenomenally not only as an anti-aging agent, but also as one that treats the most feared and most debilitating aliments associated with aging, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and even some forms of cancer.

What David Sinclair Believes

David Sinclair’s work is based on the approach that resveratrol activates a gene called SIRT-1, which many biologists think plays a fundamental, if still obscure, role in regulating life span in mammals. Scientists have shown that increasing the activity of SIRT-1 in animals slows down aging and postpones or eliminates diseases of old age.

Scientists have revealed that SIRT-1 genes, when activated, create a condition in the body that is identical to the effects of calorie restriction in diets. It has already been proven in experiments with mice that 30 to 40 per cent fewer calorie diets helped the mice to live much longer than those with normal diets. David Sinclair believes that resveratrol mimics calorie restriction, and can thus significantly enhance lifespan of an individual without his going through arduous dieting.

Benefits of Resveratrol

Apart from benefits of life-extension, resveratrol is known to offer cancer-preventive, anti-inflammatory, anti-infective and nerve protection benefits. Moreover, it is also an excellent remedy for heart problems. The aging people who are more prone to this sort of health disorders can thus find in resveratrol several remedies in one product.

Resveratrol is also known to improve the functioning of estrogen hormone and act as an effective enhancer of the neuro-endocrine system. This particular property makes resveratrol an excellent remedy among women, as women usually witness reduced estrogen activity in their system after menopause, and suffer from many adverse health effects due to this shortage.

How Safe Is Resveratrol

Though the anti-aging research on resveratrol by David Sinclair was conducted on mice and other animals and showed resveratrol to be safe for them, no conclusive evidence, on either the benefits or the side-effects, if any, are yet available with relation to humans.

However, Sinclair is confident that resveratrol is safe for humans if taken according to prescribed dosages, and he is conducting long-term studies with human subjects to prove his contention.

Incidentally, other studies including some of David Sinclair suggest that resveratrol anti-aging benefits can be best obtained with a daily dose of 1-10 mg of resveratrol. Higher doses of up to 100 mg daily are recommended for therapeutic purposes. With wines containing about 5 mg of resveratrol per liter, a moderate wine intake of 250 ml per day is quite sufficient to get the health benefits of resveratrol.

If David Sinclair finally comes out successfully with his studies about resveratrol anti-aging benefits and its safety with humans, those worried with mortality will certainly have a great reason to cheer.