Will new wonder drug let humans 'have their cake and eat it, too?'

Imagine a drug that combines an ingredient found in red wine, which extends your life on the provision you eat as much as you please, eventually becoming obese. Sound too good to be true? Those are the provisions of the new drug called SRT-1720, and the success found in obese lab mice has been amazing.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - SRT-1720 is an experimental agent, which in different forms is also being tested in humans. The drug found to prevent some of the life-shortening diseases associated with obesity in mice, by curbing levels of fat in the liver and improving sensitivity to insulin.

SRT-1720 is based on the compound resveratrol, which is found in red wine and is thought to combat some of the effects of aging by boosting levels of proteins called sirtuins. These are the proteins that have been associated with 30 percent life extension in mice and rats put on low-calorie diets.

Developed by David Sinclair, a biologist at Harvard Medical School and one of the co-authors of the current mouse study, the findings associated with SRT-1720 appear in the new journal Scientific Reports...