Big Pharma cashes in on the benefits of Red Wine

Sirtris clearly is aiming at a massive market opportunity: GlaxoSmithKline purchased them in early 2008 ... for $720 million.

Wiki: Resveratrol

Resveratrol (trans-resveratrol) is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement derived primarily from Japanese knotweed. In mouse and rat experiments, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering and other beneficial cardiovascular effects of resveratrol have been reported. Most of these results have yet to be replicated in humans. In the only positive human trial, extremely high doses (3–5 g) of resveratrol in a proprietary formulation have been necessary to significantly lower blood sugar. Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes and is a constituent of red wine, but apparently not in sufficient amounts to explain the French paradox. Experiments have shown that resveratrol treatment extended the life of fruit flies, nematode worms and short living fish but it did not increase the life span of mice.

Wiki: The French Paradox

According to FAO data, the average French person consumed 108 grams per day of fat from animal sources in 2002 while the average American consumed only 72. The French eat four times as much butter, 60 percent more cheese and nearly three times as much pork. Although the French consume only slightly more total fat (171 g/d vs 157 g/d), they consume much more saturated fat because Americans consume a much larger proportion of fat in the form of vegetable oil, with most of that being soybean oil. However, according to data from the British Heart foundation, in 1999, rates of death from coronary heart disease among males aged 35–74 years was 115 per 100,000 people in the U.S. but only 83 per 100,000 in France.

News Flash

Be $ure to get your $wine Flu $hots folks. G$K is responding to a pandamic.

The World Health Organization said Friday that 2837 people have been reported as swine flu fatalities, as H1N1 ebbs and flows in various parts of the world, while the worldwide annual death from the regular flu is estimated between 250,000 and 500,000