Good news for old, fat mice
11/03/06

Medical researchers have very good news for you – if you long to be a fat, old mouse.

Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging have reported that a natural substance found in red wine – resveratrol -- offsets the bad effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly extends their lifespan.
Their report suggests that very large daily doses of resveratrol could offset the fatty, high-calorie diet that is fueling the epidemic of obesity in the United States and elsewhere – that is, if people respond to the drug as mice do.

Resveratrol is found in the skin of grapes and in red wine and is thought to be a partial explanation for the so-called “French paradox,” the puzzling fact that the French enjoy a high-fat diet, yet suffer less heart disease than Americans. Researchers still have not unraveled the French penchant for Jerry Lewis, but think it may be linked to the same gene that is responsible for unfunny French comedy films and unlistenable French rock music.

The researchers fed one group of mice a diet in which 60 percent of calories came from fat – mainly wings, Mexican food and, of course, cheese. The diet started when the mice, all males, were 1 year old, which is middle-aged in mouse terms. As expected, the mice soon developed signs of diabetes, grossly enlarged livers, and started to die much sooner than mice fed a standard diet. They also displayed a marked taste for NASCAR, Larry the Cable Guy, and lite beer.

Another group of mice was fed the identical high-fat diet but with a large daily dose of resveratrol. The resveratrol did not stop them from putting on weight and growing as tubby as the other fat-eating mice. But it averted impending diabetes, and it kept the mice’s livers at normal size. This second group of mice also developed a taste for Birkenstock sandals, James Taylor, and shopping at Whole Foods.

Resveratrol also greatly extended the mice’s lifetimes. The mice who got resveratrol along with their yummy high-fat diet died many months later than the mice who got just the high fat, In fact, they died at the same rate as mice on a standard healthy diet. In other words, they had all the pleasures of gluttony but paid none of the price. Nor did they appear to have spouses nagging them to get off the sofa and lose some weight, for crying out loud.

The mice were fed a hefty dose of resveratrol: 24 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. To get that much resveratrol, a 150-pound person would need to drink from 1,500 to 3,000 bottles of red wine a day. This may help explain why Keith Richards has lived as long as he has.