Dr. David Sinclair caused a great deal of excitement when he succeeded in extending the life span of the special strain of yeast he developed with resveratrol. That success led to finding how resveratrol triggered sirtuin to cause the life span extension just as calorie restriction would have done. The important point here is that small molecular activators, i.e. resveratrol, are CR mimetics. Sirtuins are the first molecular target that is being used as a guide by the drug companies to design a true anti-aging pharmacopoeia.

Once a theory is developed and unless all parts of its theoretical structure is proven beyond question, it will be challenged. This is one of the truly good elements of scientific thought and explains why sirtuins are being questioned in their role of calorie restriction. Fundamentally, the debate questions the animal studies and their results being used as a guide in approaching health problems of human bodies. Two of the major animal studies centered on one dealing with median life span and the other with exercise tolerance.  The doubters are of course, questioning the relevance of the research findings to humans. Read the rest of this entry »