Red Wine Compound Could Boost Endurance

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"We showed this not only in cultured cells and mice, but also, more importantly, the first time in humans, where we linked the SIRT1 gene with energy expenditure," Auwerx said.

Resveratrol or its analogs could prove useful in treating several diseases that are characterized by abnormal mitochondrial activity, Auwerx said. "In the first case, you can think about applications in the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes," he said. "Many more diseases could benefit from increased mitochondrial activity, most notably neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's," he added.

This study was paid for by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, which developed the compound used in the experiments.

But if you think that drinking more wine or taking resveratrol supplements might turn you into a super-athlete, think again, said Sirtris CEO Dr. Christoph Westphal.

"Native resveratrol from red wine or nutraceuticals cannot reach therapeutic levels in man," he said. "You would need to drink hundreds of glasses of red wine or take hundreds of nutraceutical pills in a day to get a therapeutic dose."

According to Westphal, the company has completed two phase 1 studies with 85 human volunteers of an improved formulation of resveratrol which reaches therapeutic levels in man and is safe.

In addition, Sirtris has started giving diabetic patients its resveratrol compound in a 28-day phase 1 trial to test the safety of the drug and to see how it affects glucose levels.

"We are also initiating a phase 1 study in a rare, very severe mitochondrial disorder called MELAS," Westphal said. The condition -- "mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactacidosis, stroke" (MELAS) -- is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.

One expert was cautious about the findings.

"This is an important addition to the body of work that is showing that you can activate anti-aging genetic pathways," said David Sinclair, an associate professor of pathology at Harvard Medical School, and a cofounder of Sirtris.