Photo via http://healthinmotion.wordpress.com/2007/06/01/junk-food-high-in-us-diets/

The Sirt1 enzyme in the body has generated enormous attention as a longevity agent.  Both fasting and drinking red wine, appear to aid in the longevity quest, because both likely activate Sirt1.

In a scientific discovery that shouldn’t yet be associated with the French Paradox, researchers from Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that Sirt1 in the brain has its own potential health benefit: It may keep people thinner.

They determined that inhibiting the activity of Sirt1 in the brain’s hypothalamic region appears to help control food intake — a finding that potentially lays the groundwork for new treatments for obesity. Details will be published online Dec. 15, 2009, at PLoS One. via Science Daily