I thought some of you might enjoy reading this article... I don't have too many thoughts on the old records of these people the article speaks of, I just take it for what it is... Luigi Conoro there is a bit more evidence behind his longevity though.

Historical Accounts of Super Longevity: Living On the Vine

http://www.knowledgeofhealth.com/re...,%20Resveratrol



Did anyone really find the secret of longevity long ago? The answer is, maybe. Lacking a time-reversal machine, this can only be speculated. But a review of the subject is certainly intriguing.

Moses lives 120 years

Biblical records claim Moses lived 120 years, having fasted 40 days and nights. “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” (Deuteronomy 34:7) Moses had great eyesight and vigor to his dying day.

It is the fasting that is attention grabbing here. "And he (Moses) was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." (Book of Exodus 34:28)

The modern term for fasting is calorie restriction. Scientists believe a limited calorie diet will not only produce immeasurable quality of life (memory retention, vigor, disease resistance), but will also prolong life by 30-50 more years.

Some say the Bible is archaic and accounts of Biblical patriarchs living for hundreds of years are fairy tales. There is no way to separate mythology from fact, but there are some historical records of super longevity that now, in retrospect, are beginning to make sense.

Mr. Ho lives 130 years in China

The first of these to be examined is from China, more than twelve centuries ago. One account that stands out is that of a Mr. Ho, who lived in Hebei Province, but at age 58 was impotent and childless. He was advised to eat an herb, which he thereafter consumed regularly. Soon after, he fathered a child and several more children thereafter. His grey hair turned black. His vision improved. He lived to age 130 years. Mr. Ho’s longevity was written about 813 AD.

The interesting note about Mr. Ho’s story is that he is reported to have taken the root of the herb and made it into a fine powder and then took it with wine. The homemade herbal drug that Mr. Ho consumed later became the Chinese herb Ho-Shou Wu, “shou” referring to black and “wu” to hair.


Root of Polygonum multiflorum.
What Mr. Ho refined to powder and added to wine 1200 years ago.

Today Ho Shou-Wu is also known as fo-ti, and marketed as a dietary supplement. It’s botanical name is Polygonum multiflorum. As an impure, raw herb from traditional Chinese medicine shops, it has been associated with modern accounts of liver toxicity, probably meaning it was mixed with other botanicals. But don’t be frightened away from this herb so easily. It contains a molecule similar to an age-reversing molecule modern researchers are now heralding.

So, Mr. Ho didn’t fast like Moses. He just drank his herbal wine. What’s the connection?

Moving forward in time by another six and a half centuries, another interesting account of super longevity surfaces. This account is very well documented by the longevitarian himself.

An Italian lives 102 years in the Middle Ages

Luigi Cornaro (1464-1566 AD), a nobleman living in Padua, Italy, at age 35 was declared a drunkard and glutton by his doctors and advised to live a temperate life. From that moment on Luigi measured out his food, only 12 ounces a day, and his drink, only 14 ounces (3 glasses) of wine a day. Only an Italian would deem three glasses of wine to be an example of temperance.

Luigi Cornaro carefully documented his state of health by writing treatises, which became evidence of the sharpness of his mind, as well as a record of his health practices. He lived 102 years, in great health, dying in a rocking chair, never having suffered the typical ravages of old age, just like Moses. Cornaro claimed he could jump up on a horse, run up stairs, even sing songs, at age 91. Here is a short discourse from Luigi Cornaro’s book:



“I have decided to write on the vice of intemperance in eating and drinking. To remedy this state of things, it is requisite that men should live up to the simplicity dictated by nature, which teaches us to be content with little, and accustom ourselves to eat no more than is absolutely necessary to support life, remembering that all excess causes disease and leads to death.”

“I solemnly assure all mankind that I really enjoy a great deal more than I can mention, and that I have no other reason for writing, but that of demonstrating the great advantages, which arise from longevity, and such a life as I have lived—I desire to convince men, that they may be induced to observe these excellent rules of constant temperance in eating and drinking, and therefore, I never cease to raise my voice, crying out to you, my friends, that your lives may be even as mine.”

Yes, Luigi Cornaro was practicing both calorie restriction, and its molecular mimic, red wine. To explain, the wine-drinking French are known to have the highest percentage of 100-year olds on the planet and one of the highest calorie diets. Researchers at Harvard only recently reported that consumption of resveratrol, a red wine molecule, might make it possible to live long and healthy, as Luigi Cornaro did, and Mr. Ho did. Even more exciting is the possibility of doing this without having to deprive oneself of food, as Moses did.

Turns out, say Harvard researchers, fasting or calorie restriction, however you want to term it, and red wine drinking, activate the same gene switch. The gene, Sirtuin 1, is a DNA repair “survival” gene that is activated when food is sparse.



The example of Roseto, Pennsylvania

Fast forward in time again, to the 1960s. A report involving the Italian immigrant population in Roseto, Pennsylvania in the 1960s and 70s pertains to the current debate over the alleged benefits of wine consumption. Male residents age 55-64 in Roseto appeared almost immune to heart attacks. Here is what was said of the male residents of Roseto:

Medical researchers were drawn to Roseto by a bewildering statistic: in defiance of medical logic, Rosetans seemed nearly immune to one of the most common causes of death. They died of heart attacks at a rate only half of the rest of America. Doctors were mystified in that residents led what medical textbooks predicted would be short lives.

The men of the village smoked and drank wine freely. They spent their days in backbreaking, hazardous labor, working 200 feet down in nearby slate quarries. At home, the dinner tables each evening were laden with traditional Italian food, modified for local ingredients in ways that would drive a dietitian to despair.

The Mediterranean diet, with its use of olive oil rather than animal fat, has been touted lately for health benefits. But, poor immigrants couldn't afford to import cooking oil from their homeland and instead fry their sausages and brown their meatballs in lard. Yet, the resulting hefty bodies contained unusually health hearts. Why?

When first studied in 1966, Roseto's cardiac mortality traced a unique graph. Nationally, the rate rises with age. In Roseto, it dropped to near zero for men aged 55-64. For men over 65, the local death rate was half the national average.

This was all documented in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The French Paradox, the fact the French were living long despite their high calorie diet, wasn’t reported till the 1990s. It was announced on the Sixty Minutes television show in 1992. The Roseto Effect was reported in the 1960s and it could not be explained by knowledge at the time. Sociologists could only guess the Roseto Effect was associated with close family ties. The red wine effect was overlooked. These rotund, pasta-loving Italian immigrants were drinking their beloved red wine, 3 to 5 glasses a day, imported from Italy.

When the 1600 Italian residents of Roseto were compared with 5000 residents of nearby Bangor, the Rosetans exhibited a far lower heart attack rate “despite an equal prevalence of the usual risk factors, mainly smoking and diet.” Moreover, there were no significant differences between the coronary patients, with or without survival, and their sex, age, and cholesterol matched controls; nor were smoking, evidence of hypertension, diabetes, or obesity predictive of significant differences between the two groups.

Moses fasted. Mr. Ho drank herbal wine, which extracted by fermentation a resveratrol-like molecule from the root of an herb. Luigi Cornaro ate a limited calorie diet and drank wine. The men of Roseto, Pennsylvania just drank red wine. The French drink red wine and live 45-65% longer in wine growing districts compared to the rest of France. The picture becomes more and more clear.

Even when the people on the Japanese island of Okinawa are carefully examined, we not only find they are among the longest living human populations on Earth due to their limited calorie diet, but they also wrap their daily-consumed rice cakes in the leaves of a green plant that contains resveratrol.

In modern times, the oldest living man, Antonio Todde (115 years) of the Italian isle of Sardinia, and woman, Jean Calment (122 years) of France, were both wine drinkers. Coincidence?

It is worth speculating that modern humans could anticipate living ten decades or more in great health, by limiting calorie intake or drinking red wine, or both -- or a safer alternative -- taking red wine resveratrol pills.

What now?
Most Americans fear living longer and becoming mentally incompetent, physically disabled and a burden upon their families. Could a red wine pill avert all this?

There is no way to conclusively prove resveratrol pills improve the healthspan and lifespan of humans. A study to prove this would take 90-100 years to complete and simply is unfeasible. But the historical record is consistent, and it is being backed by the best available science. All life forms tested to date (yeast cells, fruit flies, roundworms, cold-water fish and warm-blooded mammals), live longer when resveratrol is added to their diet. Mice given resveratrol in a recent lab study retained their balance and coordination (motor skills) despite a very high-fat diet, and lived 31% longer to boot. Resveratrol delivers on its promise of improving the quality and quantity of life.

Recently National Institutes of Aging researchers were asked, “is this real?” Their answer: “we think so.” How long will humanity wait before it takes action on this growing body of evidence? What will it take to convince humanity, before age-related disease over-burdens every family in developed countries?

Most fear living extra long and becoming senile. Others are concerned about overpopulation. Yet a red wine resveratrol pill might delay the effects of aging by a decade or more, making the retirement years healthy instead of burdensome years, and preventing the depletion of saving accounts that rapidly dwindle once retirees are overwhelmed with age-related health problems.

Population experts say 25 percent of Americans who live to age 65 will live to age 92 and beyond. Will these near-centenarians inevitably suffer with chronic health problems in their latter years, or live actively and vigorously as did Moses, Mr. Ho, Luigi Cornaro and the others cited in this report?

Many Americans want to wait till their doctor advises them what to do. Few will adopt limited-calorie diets even if prescribed by a doctor. Others will drink more red wine, but much of the wine today is not made in the traditional fashion of the French and provides very little resveratrol.
Red wine pills offer a non-alcohol alternative, but lab researchers say they have tested many brands and found them to be of marginal quality (even the fo-ti). The secret apparently lies in re-creating the dark, cool, airtight environment of a wine bottle, which preserves resveratrol from degradation by light, heat or oxygen. This is duplicated in a special type of airtight resveratrol capsule that has recently become available and has been independently tested to maintain resveratrol in a dietary supplement capsule, with a shelf life of two years or more.*

New buzz word: resveratrol
A Washington Post article says resveratrol is one of the new words that has entered the everyday American vocabulary. It will be interesting to see how the American people respond to this unexpected development, which researchers say will only continue to be validated in future scientific studies.

Oh, yes, almost forgot to mention, some modern-day users of the specially-preserved (airtight) red wine pill report their grey hair has returned to its youthful dark color again, just like Mr. Ho claimed twelve centuries ago.

–Copyright 2007 Bill Sardi, Knowledge of Health, Inc. Bill Sardi has a commercial interest in red wine pills.*Longevinex

Really interesting article.

Whoa, I did have a question or two for you. While practicing caloric restriction, how does one handle exercise? And since alot of those practicing caloric restriction lose both muscle and fat, what about strength? Some of those I've seen who do caloric restriction, look quite fragile. I'm not knocking it, just curious.

In my opinion there is much to be gained from fasting. in the 1960's the "seven nation study" was conducted and the longest living people with the lowest incidence of heart disease and cancer were from Greece. And yes this study included the carb rich diet found of the Japanese. Specifically, it was the diet of the island of Crete which somehow morphed into something called the Mediterraen diet. The diet is relatively high in fat (specificaly olive oil), cheese and yogurt (Greek yogurt is extremely low in carbs and is uniquiely different and much better tasting with a little honey), naturally locally grown vegtables in season, fresh fish, little red meat and the bread was of the dark low glycemic type. The most interesting part of the diet is that the Cretan people and all off Greece is an Orthodox Christian country that subscribes to the fasting rituals set forth from earlier Judaism and the founding of Christianity. Generally, nothing from a blood letting animal (meat, fish, dairy) and no wine or olive oil is eaten on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. There are also prescribed fasting days throughout the religious calendar that make fasting at least half the year. If you Google "Greek Orthodox Diet" you will find that this was one of the reasons for the healthy longetivity of these people in 1960. I read recent articles that this fasting ritual and not genetics brought such great health in regards to cancers and serum levels. The problem is that if you are not religious and specifically not an eastern European, this fasting would appear alien and hard to follow even though it has been around for over 2000 years.

You can hold onto some of the muscle by exercising, it's quite simple. Because I play football the muscles on my leg muscles are still big (big legs muscles from 10 years of football). Although my arms are a bit skinnier because I didn't really exercise them as much. Most of the CRers I know do things like Power Yoga, which requires a lot of stamina, strength and flexibility. I personally go to the gym twice a week and lift free weights, do bench presses and stuff... I also do yoga many times a week, I run every morning for about 20 minutes. I play football a few times a week. When I had time during the first year of CR I went to karate twice a week. I don't need additional strength for what I do in my life, it's pointless... unless I live in an extremely dangerous environment.

But I am only 22 years old, so I can do these things and am generally full of energy. Most of the CRers started around the age of 50... well after the normal age related decline started, and from where they started they might have become a lot weaker, I don't know. Almost all I know report an increase in stregth and endurance though. I can do everything I could do when I was heavier. The idea isn't to become like arnold, but to live a long time. Although muscle is important, we do not need an excess amount. We want our muscles to not decline as we get older and to function properly (CR helps with both of this). Whether CR is detrimental to you is an individual thing, if you are a body builder then yes it will be, if you sit and do an office job and thats it, then it probably won't be, because you don't want to be a body builder. Totally depends on your circumstances.

The amounts of resveratrol in red wine are tiny. I'm inclined to agree with this research (http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/He...1106591095.html) that it's the alcohol that has the beneficial effect. My guess is that the explanation is simple: in moderate amounts, alcohol lowers blood glucose. In immoderate amounts, it reduces blood glucose too much and causes dehydration.

Now THERE is a life extending therapy I can get behind! Now if we can just throw women and song into the mix... heck, while we are at it, tasty cigars too! I can dream!

I remember some years ago there was a popular article based on some research that gave the approximate health benefit of drinking a beer to a mile jog. My friends and I, being health concious young adults, would often run a few miles after work...

The positive effects of spirits have long been known, it's only in these times where the Health Nazis have convinced the public that denial of earthly pleasures is considered a virtue that they are even given the time of day. Can't say I've ever met a Teetotaler that wasn't annoying, maybe I just needed to drink more?