This is about resveratrol, which isn't a new drug. It's been in and out of the news for quite a few years now. The article is a little confusing, but it seems that the current research has linked it to a mechanism which is also involved in the "starving mice live longer" phenomenon. That's definitely good news, scientifically.<p>But the "wonder drug" theme is a little overstated. There have been <i>lots</i> of teasingly good results with this drug in mice over the last decade or so, but we're still waiting for a pharmaceutical to result.
Aubrey de Grey has argued that caloric restriction can probably only extend life in humans by ~2 years. The idea is that it's not a percentage of lifespan that you can gain, but rather a fixed amount of time. He says the data supports his interpretation, and that it makes sense evolutionarily because extending lifespan in response to low calories is mostly useful if you can get through a short famine and get a chance to mate that would have otherwise been lost. If it's a long famine that's a much harder problem for evolution to solve and there's no evidence it is solved.<p>Therefore caloric restriction probably isn't very important. Does anyone know otherwise?