Resveratol: Wine's Healthy Secret Discovered!
Seventeen years ago, 60 Minutes first examined the so-called French paradox, which suggested that French people - despite having a high fat diet and a very high consumption of wine - still had a low incidence of heart disease, compared to Americans. Most researchers back then agreed there was something in the wine that helped give protection, and a few years later even the highly cautious federal dietary guidelines have started to say that moderate consumption of red wine can truly be beneficial.
Now, scientists across the country have identified a substance in red wine called resveratrol that they believe might do more than just protect the heart, but could - in very high concentrations - significantly extend life by preventing a number of age related illnesses. If they're right, we all may soon be taking a pill that could give us an extra decade or two of healthy old age.
"If the promise holds true, I think this has the chance to change healthcare," Dr. Christoph Westphal tells correspondent Morley Safer.
Dr. Westphal says we all may soon be taking a drug that just might beat the clock, a simple Resveratrol pill that could delay the inevitable. "Our goal is to prevent and forestall many of the diseases that strike us as we reach 50, 60, and 70. All with one pill."
Asked if he's suggesting that resveratrol is some kind of a rejuvenation drug that would turn a 70-year-old into a 35-year-old, Westphal tells Safer, "That might be pretty hard to do. But I think if we're on a train heading one direction, we can slow down that train. I think we can slow down these genes that control the aging process."