The Skinny Kid

Wired News: Hacking the Human Life Span

Having recently witnessed his mother’s death following a devastating eight-year illness, Cracraft, an IT worker, decided he wanted to try and spare his own daughters such an experience with him.So he changed his diet, cutting back on sugars and adding plenty of egg protein and fish. He started drinking tea and taking fish-oil supplements and multivitamins. It wasn’t exactly a radical regimen, but he was willing to go further.

After three years researching a compound found in red wine called resveratrol, which has been shown to extend life and reduce disease in lab animals, he began taking 50 milligrams a day.

“It seems it’s more powerful than all the antioxidants put together,” Cracraft says. “You get all that in one pill, and it’s too good to pass up.”

Leave it to Wired to put health in engineering terms.