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Scientists have offered a new explanation for the mechanism of action of red wine
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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American scientists have proposed a new explanation for the mechanism of action of resveratrol, a natural compound found in red wine, for example, which is believed to increase life expectancy.
Resveratrol gained widespread popularity after it was experimentally shown that its constant intake prolongs the life of a number of organisms. In other experiments, mice given this substance were able to constantly consume high-calorie food without gaining weight or developing diabetes.
A group of scientists studying resveratrol concluded that it works (at least in part) by activating an enzyme called SIRT1, a family of sirtuins that regulate many key functions in the body, including those responsible for biological aging. Because of this, the company they founded to study resveratrol was named Sirtris. In 2008, the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline bought the company for $720 million. However, resveratrol has not been shown to directly activate sirtuin.
Researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) focused on another enzyme activated by resveratrol. This enzyme, adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), plays an important role in the cell's energy supply. It turned out that the compound under study also activates it indirectly.
Further study of the issue showed that resveratrol does not work in the absence of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), a universal molecule that serves as a mediator of receptor and many other intracellular interactions, including those related to energy metabolism.
It turned out that resveratrol directly blocks the family of phosphodiesterase (PDE) enzymes that break down cAMP (by the way, blockers of individual types of PDE are drugs such as caffeine, sildenafil and many others). Thus, taking resveratrol increases the level of cAMP in cells, which generally leads to stimulation of energy metabolism in the body and "burning" of fat and carbohydrate reserves.
A team of researchers led by Jay Chung confirmed these findings by partially reproducing the effects of resveratrol by administering other PDE blockers. Sirtris CEO George Vlasuk said he doubted Chung's results for a number of reasons and would not attempt to replicate them.
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