Fountain of Youth in a Wine Rx?

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60 Minutes January 25, 2009

The Studies

“Resveratrol Improves Health and Survival of Mice on a High-Calorie Diet,” Nature, 2009

The Hype

Morley Safer interviewed the founders of Sirtris, a company planning a pill form of resveratrol, a compound found in red wine. He ended up doing a lot of cheerleading. Among the untested claims the show let slide: that a pill could forestall diseases in our 50s, 60s and 70s, and that it works using the body’s natural defenses against Alzheimer’s, cancer and diabetes.

The Subtler Truth

Though it’s often a paragon of journalistic rigor, 60 Minutes has a record of falling short on health issues. Its breathless 13-minute coverage of resveratrol, which has been tested mostly on mice and yeast, presented no opposing view and was tempered only by a single (and damning) statistic: “9 out of 10 drugs that look good in mice ultimately fail in human trials.” Says Gary Schwitzer, a professor at the University of Minnesota and founder of journalism watchdog site HealthNewsReview.org, “The job they’ve done on health and medical-science stories makes me watch the rest of their stories with greater scrutiny. Sometimes journalists become enamored and fawning about the progress of science. They check their skepticism at the door.”

The Bottom Line

There seems to be some sort of connection between heart health and red wine, but it’s not clear that resveratrol is why. And considering that plenty of animal tests don’t credit resveratrol, one has to wonder at all the puffery. When it comes to surprising health claims, even the much-vaunted 60 Minutes needs to be viewed with a critical eye.

Conclusion

I think that even if it doesn't do anything maybe if I believe in it I will have a placebo affect. Hey its worth a try. If you want to buy the supplement they have it at GNC or Amazon and its not expensive.