There is a lot of great anti-aging research being done, and there are promising products that will surely put me out of business, I confess to growing weary of the plethora of “panacea” promises (don’t you just love alliteration?). Weary, and often times angry at the misdirection of the masses to sell a pill.
Let me confess right now that I am one who is inclined to be suckered by such misdirection because I believe that humans have not reached the level knowledge that perhaps they think they have, and one never knows what beauty and relief one can find in nature’s untapped bounty. That’s my jam. So going out on a limb for fringe claims better not come back to bite me in the rear.
Resveratrol is a compound that get’s talked about a lot lately that supposedly does everything from stopping the aging process to curing cancer to providing exercise benefits without the hassle of actual nasty, sweaty exercise. Sounds great! Now let’s get real.
A group of scientists from Denmark, J. Olesen, et al., conducted a study in which healthy but physically inactive older men were either given resveratrol or a placebo daily, or given high intensity exercise training along with either a placebo or resveratrol. After eight weeks, they reported “no exclusive resveratrol-mediated metabolic effects were observed,” and ultimately concluded:
Collectively this highlights the metabolic efficacy of exercise training in aged subjects and do [sic] not support that resveratrol is a potential exercise mimetic in healthy aged subjects.
I’m not saying resveratrol won’t turn out to have some uses and benefits, but it won’t take my livelihood just yet.
So get back in the gym, people, there’s nothing here to see. Exercise is still the best and only proven fountain of youth.
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