Eternally Sweet-16

The fact that we are at the brink of a bio-technological revolution is substantiated by researchers' finding drugs that combat aging! Think about it - why would scientists try to find drugs to stop aging? Is it a disease? Have we solved and cracked the cures for all the other diseases in the world that we are jobless enough to start combating aging? Soon, I think, we will find scientists researching drugs for reducing a person's age!

Jokes apart, it is an earth-shattering finding that a chemical found in food products, as common as red-wine, is anti-aging, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and life-prolonging. Yes, life-prolonging. The miracle chemical is resveratrol. The consequences of the discovery of this drug have tentacles that seek to explain the French Paradox. The paradox is that French have a very low incidence of coronary heart disease inspite of diets with very high saturated-fat content. The explanation is that the resveratrol present in red-wine offers its benefits as an anti-oxidant to promote over-all health.

According to CNN's article on resveratrol:

Resveratrol is the ingredient in red wine that made headlines when scientists demonstrated that it kept overfed mice from gaining weight, turned them into the equivalent of Olympic marathoners, and seemed to slow down their aging process. Few medical discoveries have generated so much instant buzz - even Jay Leno riffed about it in his opening monologue.

One of the first companies to invest in this chemical is Sirtris Pharmaceuticals. There have been animal studies to buttress the working of the chemical and it is yet to be established that this works in humans. The company was started by a few Harvard alumni with Professors from MIT and Harvard on the advisory committee. They even went public end May.

How does someone find so much promise in such an inceptive concept as to give up lucrative jobs/careers to start-up? I understand that is what starting-up entails, but still, sometimes it is hard to see how people take so much risk. I admire their passion and hunger for more success, and I wish I develop such instincts and passion someday.

Meanwhile, let's all party, mind you though on red-wine only so that we may all live longer. Long live...