By delaying the onset of age-related diseases, such a drug could potentially elongate a person’s life span.

One of the compounds shown to slow aging, resveratrol, is found in red wine. However, despite media claims to the contrary, simply drinking wine will not prevent disease.

“The amount that you would need to drink for any therapeutic benefit would be offset by the effects of drinking too much alcohol,” said Hubbard.

Although no health benefit has been proven, there are currently resveratrol supplements available in the consumer market.

In 2006, resveratrol was first linked to anti-aging effects by Sinclair’s lab.

This study found that obese mice fed resveratrol supplements had dramatically longer lives. The resveratrol essentially counteracted the effects of the mice’s high-calorie diet—their arteries were cleaner, their hearts were stronger, and they demonstrated improved brain function.

Scientists have since developed synthetic compounds mimicking resveratrol’s function that are “a hundred or a thousand times more potent” than naturally occurring compounds like resveratrol; effective drugs containing these compounds will be the “real breakthrough” to prevent aging diseases, said Hubbard. Currently, such drugs are the subject of many clinical trials.

Two Massachusetts General Hospital doctors published a study this past Friday that directly supports the findings of Sinclair’s study.