Wonder Pill to Keep You Slim, Sexy Forever

The London Times, November 15, 2004

It sounds like the elixir of life: a wonder drug that promotes youth, slimness and sexual allure at the same time as protecting against heart disease and cancer.

Impossible? Not to researchers investigating a substance called resveratrol, which they believe could be the holy grail of the pharmaceutical industry: a single drug to counter 'lifestyle' illnesses and improve sex appeal.

'If there is such a thing as a true anti-aging molecule, I would expect the sort of findings we have had with resveratrol,' a leading molecular geneticist from Harvard University said last week.

Tests are showing that resveratrol can help body cells to repair themselves and - a potentially huge selling point - speed up fat-burning within the cells. Extensive world-wide research is proving it to be an age-old dream: a pill to help you stay young and slim.

Experts in London are also in the hunt. 'We got very excited about resveratrol and we still are,' said Louise Donnelly, a researcher at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London, whose work has been sponsored by orivate funds.

Recent studies have shown resveratrol may effectively  prevent lung and colon cancers, lower cholesterol , and is helpful for asthmatic children.

As well as its other benefits, resveratrol also seems effective against COPD.

'There is no question it is a very interesting molecule,' said Tristan Booth of Royal Mount Pharma, a firm developing the drug for an American government colon cancer research project and also as an anti-viral agent.

The compound was discovered in grape skins and red wine, when scientists were trying to unravel the 'French paradox' - how it is that the French can consume copious quantities of alcohol, meat and cheese without succumbing to high rates of disease. Resveratrol may be the answer. Now the race is on to create and test synthetic forms - and it is not the only wonder drug on the horizon.

(Written by By Lois Rogers; Sunday Times, London