Red Wine Ingredient Increases Endurance, Study Shows - New York Times

Some researchers in the field seem to believe the preliminary findings of their experiments and are themselves using a form of the resveratrol substance. Seems a bit premature to me if the clinical trials and other safety testing has not been done.

"Dr. Westphal said he believed that the activation of sirtuins was what kept the body healthy in youth, but that these enzymes became less powerful with age. This is the process that is reversed by resveratrol and, he hopes, by the more powerful sirtuin activator drugs that his company has developed, though many years of clinical trials will be needed to prove they work and are safe.

The buzz over sirtuin activators has infected scientists who do research on the aging process, several of whom are already taking resveratrol. Dr. Sinclair has been swallowing resveratrol capsules for three years and has said his parents and half the members of his laboratory do the same. So does Dr. Tomas Prolla at the University of Wisconsin, who said, Â?The fact that investigators in the field are taking it is a good sign there is something there.Â?

But many others, including Dr. Leonard Guarente of M.I.T., whose 15-year study of sirtuins has laid the basis for the field, say it is premature to take the drug."