Resveratrol: Is There Any Limit To Human Lifespan?

By James Betz

This may be the most important book you will ever read. Betz is an acknowledged expert on the prevention of ageing, and one of the first scientists to propose the "successive bridges to indefinite life span" theory, which argues that with each additional year of life that we buy ourselves by taking advantage of the current knowledge of life extension we increase the probability that newer discoveries, such as resveratrol, stem cell organ replacement, anti-ageing supplements, and intermittent fasting, will give us another few years of healthy life span, and so on, until we completely eliminate ageing at a cost the average person can afford. We are very close to this point now, based upon discoveries described in the book, that are currently available, but not always at an affordable cost to most people. The key is not to achieve immortality, but to stay healthy and extend life span incrementally for many additional years. This is what Betz shows you how to accomplish this now. By preventing the diseases of ageing, including Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's Disease, Arthritis and bone loss, and cancer, one can extend Healthspan for decades without wasting one's savings on doctors, hospitals and pharmaceuticals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Betz
• Release date: Jul 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9780989739207

James Betz

James Betz – Researcher, Founder and CEO of Biotivia Bioceuticals, LLC

Book preview

Resveratrol – Is there any limit to Human Lifespan?

James Betz – Researcher, Founder and CEO of Biotivia Bioceuticals, LLC

Copyright James Betz 2013

Smashwords Edition

How to add five to ten healthy, vital years to your life.

Are Humans, as a species, de-evolving?

A strategy to prevent the imminent collapse of the Public Health systems in America and the UK.

This book is dedicated to the scientists, physicians and researchers whose tireless efforts have revealed the potential of Resveratrol and other naturally occurring compounds to the enormous benefit of mankind.

Table of Contents

Introduction

What is Resveratrol?

The Evidence for Resveratrol's benefits

The impact of Resveratrol versus that of Penicillin

Resveratrol and the Pharmaceutical Industry

The Scientific Community Agrees

Sources of Resveratrol – Vintage wine versus lowly weed

A Universal Defence System?

Why Smaller is Better

Resveratrol and Ageing – Lifespan versus Healthspan

The Reliance on Treatment must shift to Prevention

Most of what you think you know about ageing is wrong

Evolution and an overreliance on technology

Why has average lifespan increased?

Why is there an epidemic of the diseases of aging in the developed world?

A simple longevity prescription: Add ten healthy vital years to your life

What is the limit to human life and Healthspan?

What the Science Says about Resveratrol

A definitive guide to selecting a quality Resveratrol supplement

Gimmicks abound in the Resveratrol market

Future Prospects

References

Notes:

Introduction

Following my presentation to about 100 prestigious research scientists and physicians at the 2012 Resveratrol Conference at the University of Leicester in England, I posed the question Is Resveratrol a breakthrough medical discovery that is destined to play a huge role in the prevention and treatment of age-related diseases? There are indications that its impact and that of similar molecules on human health and wellbeing will prove to be greater than any other class of drugs – greater even than the impact of the discovery of antibiotics. Or this may be a chimera. Perhaps we will find that the pursuit of the benefits of Resveratrol is just a diversion of the research community's finite time and resources away from the development of new pharmaceuticals; drugs that the world badly needs now to treat and care for an ageing population suffering near pandemic levels of obesity, diabetes, coronary-vascular disease and cancer. In this book I will try to answer these questions.

Only five years ago very few physicians, scientists or pharmaceutical companies were familiar with Resveratrol, a naturally occurring molecule and powerful antioxidant belonging to a class of chemicals known as phytoalexins. Even fewer medical or healthcare professionals possessed in-depth knowledge of the molecule's potential health and wellness properties and the few books and articles written about this molecule prior to 2013 are all out of date and incomplete. This is how quickly the body of knowledge about Resveratrol is growing. Having dedicated the past ten years of my professional life to the investigation of Resveratrol, its potential benefits and possible problems, I felt that it was time to bring the public up to date on the latest discoveries, studies and conclusions surrounding this remarkable little molecule and to dispel many of the myths and misconceptions that the media has perpetuated over the past couple of years.

As you read this book, please bear in mind that the type of Resveratrol discussed throughout is the Trans-Resveratrol isomer. There are many other forms of this compound, but the vast majority of published research has been done on this particular type. It is also the type most commonly available to non-scientists in the form of supplements.

The outcome of this will be something dear to my heart – the concept of healthspan. I began discussing this idea about ten years ago and since then the term has found its way into a substantial number of published studies, trials and papers. In many ways healthspan is more important than lifespan. Healthspan is the number of years that a person lives free of the common diseases of aging. These include arthritis, rheumatism, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular illness, cancer, dementia and diminished organ function. It represents a more practical and meaningful objective for which to strive as we consider our diets and lifestyle, our approach to health and the prevention of the diseases and conditions which accompany ageing. Resveratrol has huge promise as a compound with the ability to increase healthspan, irrespective of the final verdict regarding its effect on extending human lifespan.

Finally, I have given you a rather detailed prescription which, if followed, will add five to ten healthy and vital years to your life.

What is Resveratrol?

Although Resveratrol has been used as a traditional medicine for over 1,000 years in the Far East, it was not until 1939 that it was first catalogued as a naturally occurring phytochemical by Japanese scientist Michio Takaoka. Very little was written about the compound for over 50 years thereafter.

In the early 1990s Resveratrol captured the attention of scientists and researchers who discovered its beneficial effects on blood platelet aggregation and on LDL cholesterol levels. Several very insightful studies were published in leading peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals between 1994 and 2003, the year that Drs Konrad Howitz and David Sinclair published their first Resveratrol study in the journal Nature.[1] This investigation found that the compound significantly increased the lifespan of a common type of yeast, often used in studies on longevity. The life extension effect was attributed to Resveratrol’s activation of a class of genes known as sirtuins, specifically the SIRT1 gene. This gene is functionally conserved in humans and other mammals, meaning that it continues to have the same function in higher species. Later studies[2] in Italy on fish concluded that Resveratrol increased animals’ life span by an impressive and unprecedented 59%.

Despite the publication of these very intriguing earlier studies, it was not until David Sinclair published his landmark study in 2005, in which obese mice administered Resveratrol lived over 30% longer and suffered none of the diseases common to obesity and ageing, that the compound achieved widespread popular and scientific recognition. The study highlighted Resveratrol’s promising potential to prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia and has since attracted the attention of many of the world’s most prestigious universities and research institutions. Two World Resveratrol Conferences have been held and the compound is now being investigated in human clinical trials by government health ministries, medical schools and prestigious research institutions in the North and South America, Europe, Australasia and India. Results of the trials so far published are extremely encouraging.

Resveratrol is the most highly studied of the four known naturally occurring stilbenoids, polyphenols and antioxidants produced in plants that are associated with disease prevention. It is also a potent phytoalexin, a class of plant-synthesized chemicals which are produced in response to attack by a bacterial or fungal agent. Their purpose is to protect the plant against infection by destroying the invading pathogen, much as our own immune system produces killer T cells to fight disease-causing microbes. Simply put, this small but potent molecule acts as a critically important component of the host plant’s immune system. A growing body of evidence points to Resveratrol’s ability to perform much the same function in animals, including humans.

It was actually Resveratrol’s ability to protect wine grapes from a common type of fungal infection that