The science of anti aging has a new star - sirtuins. An important study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has put the research spotlight on a family of enzymes called 'sirtuins'.

You may be wondering why that matters to you. Well if you're interested in how to look younger and age gracefully - sirtuins may matter more than you know.

Researchers first started to focus on the role of sirtuins in anti aging in 2001. At that time, studies were done at many top universities to investigate the effects of calorie restriction on life extension. One of the off-shoots of these studies was to establish a clear link between sirtuins and life span extension.

Now a more recent study has revealed the enormous anti aging potential of sirtuins in a way that has many biotechnology companies eager to take developments further. Possible applications include the development of new drugs for diabetes and neurological disorders like Alzheimers and Huntingdons.

Even more exciting - for those of us who care about wrinkles - is the possible use of sirtuins in the development of new anti aging skin care ingredients. In France, a company called Vincience - a leader in the development of active skin care ingredients - presented research last year which demonstrated the presence of sirtuins in the skin for the first time. An innovative new ingredient 'orsitine' was subsequently developed and will no doubt find its way into high end anti wrinkle creams coming to us all soon.

The science behind these developments is complex and for most of us non-scientists can be difficult to grasp. If you are interested and you want to know more, then take a look at recent article on sirtuins at Biosingularity - a wonderful site for all sorts of information about the biotechnology of anti-aging.

Even if you don't want to know too much about 'the science bit' - you'd do well to remember 'sirtuins' and 'resveratrol' - there's no doubt they are set to become the new anti aging buzz-words.

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