Saturday, June 24, 2006

Do you want hunger or wine for life?
Aging process is an intriguing question that has been extensively explored in different species. Despite the great progress in this subject, scientists haven’t achieved the final goal: lowering the rate of aging along with age-related diseases in human being.

One of the most popular hypothesis among the scientists is that one we can call “Hungry for life”. Based on anecdotal evidences, scientists postulated that “by decreasing the amount of food intake the organism will increase the lifespan”. This hypothesis has been proved true for rats, worms and flies but failed when tested in Rhesus monkeys and humans. Actually, it is very hard to test it in these long-term animals.

Recent findings in gene activation have shown that food restriction can activate a gene that might be concerned with lifespan. The most curious thing is that this gene can be activated by a molecule present in red wine.

Now, thanks to the researchers, we can make a choice between starvation and wine.

2 comments:

Daniel de Aguirres said...

I may not be the final authority on this issue, but I guess lifespan can be increased by eating natural fresh food and keeping a healthy life style. It is all that simple. If food restriction were a cause for increasing lifespan, people in miserable countries where starvation is on the rocks wouldn’t die at early age!

Anonymous said...

You're right about having healthy lifestyle. This lifestyle includes don't eat as a glutton - that is the point. Western societies usually abuse in drinking and eating. In addition, miserable people don't have enought to basic organism functions. Along with, they don't have suitable water for drinking, medical care, etc. Maybe starvation had not been a good word for the text - maybe the best one is simply food restrition.