David Sinclair bites the grape that feeds him
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“I don’t care about red wine,” Dr. David Sinclair told the Boston Globe in a story that ran on Monday. Why should we care that he doesn’t care?
Sinclair, associate professor in Harvard Medical School’s Department of Pathology, is the lead researcher in the much-reported study about resveratrol and aging. He and his research team found that resveratrol extended life in yeast cells first, then tried it on mice. The mice not only lived longer but had lower incidence of diabetes.
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring component in red wine among other things. Lab mice were given the equivalent amount of resveratrol as a human would find in 300 glasses of wine.
So what’s up with the ‘tude, dude? Why denigrate red wine in it’s entirety? Where’s the respect for the French Paradox? Or intellectual curiosity? Or gastronomic adventure? He’s from Australia, after all. He may win a medal one day for his research on aging, but I doubt anyone is going to send him a case of shiraz with an attitude like that toward the fruits of the vine.
The 37 year old researcher is obsessed with mortality (if he wants to postpone death, what does he do with his equally inevitable tax payments?). “Aging is the worst thing that has ever been put upon humanity,” he told the Globe. Well, I guess he’ll be popping pills–not corks–til he’s old and crinkly. But he might just want to chill out from time to time, live that long life a bit, and have a glass of old vine grenache.
Related
“His research targets the aging process”, Boston Globe
Sinclair Lab, with pics of him and his research team
“Resveratrol now promises cardiovascular sloth” [Dr. V]
“BREAKING: resveratrol extends life and promises free gluttony” [Dr. V]
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On December 13th, 2006 at 2:59 pm ,winehiker wrote:
Hear! Hear! The man’s got to factor “quality of life” into his pill-popping vitameataregimen. (Sorry, Lucy.)
On April 24th, 2008 at 12:54 pm ,Johnny Depp, food pairing, resveratrol bonanza, tax - sipped and spit | Dr Vino's wine blog wrote:
[...] startup focuses on the anti-aging properties of the red wine component resveratrol. How will red wine hater David Sinclair celebrate his [...]
On April 25th, 2008 at 8:16 am ,Bill wrote:
Sinclair is sick of talking about red wine because he has to lie about it. He says you have to drink 1000 bottles to get the benefits of resveratrol. That is garbage. Last year they say 300 glasses (which is still alot but not 1000 bottles): the fact is, there is not magic cutoff amout. Sirtris chose to throw out the 1000 bottles line becuase they don’t want any substitutes for their drugs (which they will make much money on). If one can by resveratrol, off the shelf at a drug store, for say the price of an aspirin (yes resveratrol prices are coming down as resveratrol is commoditized), why would I buy their pill? They are sending false messages to the public for (mainly) greed. Sad.