Imagine a single gene in your body that could control your health as some kind of central processing point for things like inflammation, insulin resistance, blood sugar, obesity, heart disease, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's, arthritis, and so on... for hundreds and hundreds of health or disease markers or conditions. Imagine that one gene could control or 'mediate' all of those important measures of your health.

One does.

It's called the SIRT1 gene. All of us have it.

When stimulated, this gene can vastly improve your health, and can, scientists believe, possibly not only improve the way you feel, but also likely can lengthen your life and reduce risks for major diseases, obesity, diabetes, and many more conditions related to ageing.

In short, this is the 'Fountain of Youth' that mankind has been searching for over centuries. At least, that is the conclusion of recent studies of the SIRT1 gene.

And, remarkably, scientists have discovered that a common polyphenol found in grape skins, peanuts, and an invasive weed called the Japanese Knotweed (the best souce) acts to stimulate this gene so that it actually extends lifetime by up to 50% in some animals.

This plant nutrient is called RESVERATROL. Reseveratrol is the substance that many plants generate to protect themselves from foreign bacteria, viruses, poisons, and injuries from insects that eat its leaves or stems. Resveratrol was discovered about 50 years ago in the skins of red grapes like muscat varieties, but has only recently been proven to have life extending effects on anything other than the plants that produce it.

A few years ago, scientists found that some worms lived 150% longer when given about 30mg/kg dose per day. For a 75kg man, this dose would be about 1-1/2 grams per day, or about 1 gram for a 50 kg woman. However, the human metabolism runs at only a small fraction of that of the worm or lab-rat, so the actual dose would be only perhaps 3% to 5% of that figure, or about 50 milligrams or so. But this is merely a fair guess, not a real result of true research about human effective dosages..

This was an astounding piece of information, and resulted in a worldwide rush to experiment on higher animals, including mammals or so-called 'vertebrates'. It was found that laboratory animals such as rats lived up to 30-40% longer when dosed with about the same doses of resveratrol for their proportionate body weights.

This was just a few years ago.

Now, scientists have begun to suspect that it may be resveratrol from red grapes that produce what is known as the 'French paradox' -- where many French people tend to live long healthy lives, despite consumng high fat diets and smoking, eating frequent rich and sweet foods. We know these foods to be unhealthy for other populations around the world. The difference seems to be that the French people drink red wines quite frequently. And, these red wines commonly contain very small amounts of resveratrol. A bottle of common French red wine may contain up to 30, 40 or even 50 milligrams of resveratrol, while some contain almost none of it. By drinking a variety of red wines in their diet, the french may be stimulating their SIRT1 gene and extending their lives.

Interesting.

Scientists rushed to do even more research. They began to give small groups of patients resveratrol in various doses to see if it improved their disease status. The herbal extracts were given as injections, or as oral pills,and even as skin patches with the product applied in a water gel to be absorbed through the skin.

What they found is very encouraging. Resveratrol seems to normalize blood sugar, reduce inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity and therefore improves the symptoms of many major diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer growth rates, and so on.

Resveratrol appears to be an herbal fountain-of-youth.

After these results from around the world began to be published in 2006, hundreds of companies began to sell over the counter herbal supplements with resveratrol in them.

But, there is a problem that scientists have found with these supplements.

When the human body digests resveratrol taken orally as a supplement capsule, it converts the product into something called metabolites. Those metabolites may be healthy, or not. New studies have to be done.

The initial studies of the effectiveness of resveratrol were done in a lab test tube, or test solution on a counter top or incubator. Some studies were done of lab animals who were injected with the product. A few did oral studies of dietary resveratrol in lab animals.

Now it appears that today's resveratrol supplements may be a waste of money.

But, have hope! The big pharmaceutical companies are coming to your rescue. They are now testing synthetic resveratrol 'analogs' or copies that are specially designed to be up to 1,000 times more able to withstand metabolic conversion in the human body. These new drugs may finally give us the REAL fountain of youth.

And, their name is interestingly, Sirtus. The company that produces them have of course patented the process, so you may end up being only able to buy them from a doctor.

Oh. there is one more possibility... remember that I mentioned up above that some scientists did some tests on humans with resveratrol patches containing a water gel containing the herbal extract?

Well, it does turn out that the skin does absorb resveratrol without converting it like your digestive system. And, it does so quite efficiently, at very high bioavailability levels.

Also, a few scientists have researched oral resveratrol not swallowed, but allowed to disolved under the tongue for at least one minute. That also seems to work somewhat well at getting pure uncoverted resveratrol into the circulation where it can do its work.

Where can you get skin patches or under the tongue resveratrol? Nowhere at the moment. Such pills or patches have not yet been approved by the FDA for human use.

A WARNING FOR PEOPLE TAKING SOME DRUGS

If you're currently taking blood thinners, Viagra, blood pressure medicines, diabetic medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, and other drugs for most degenerative diseases you should talk to your physician before taking resveratrol. Resveratrol, when it works properly at effective doses, can act to reduce platelet aggregation, lower blood sugar, reduce insulin resistance, lower blood pressure, and so on. You may find that the doses of other drugs you may be taking are much too high when and if resveratrol acts as it might in your body. Your doctor will need to either reduce the amounts of those drugs you are taking, or perhaps eliminate them entirely. This may be a good thing, but it can be dangerous.You may find suddenly that your blood pressure is dangerously low, or your blood sugar goes too low, and so on. DO NOT TAKE RESVERATROL IF YOU ARE TAKING MEDICATIONS FOR BLOOD PRESSURE, BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL, AND SO ON. Consult your doctor first.

So, look for a pill that could be the fountain of youth soon -- maybe in a few years, if you live long enough -- comng to a vitamin store shelf near you!