Long valued by Native Americans for a variety of therapeutic properties, the Creosote Bush may now hold the key for longevity.

Preliminary results of a study conducted by the University of Michigan on behalf of the National Institute on Aging, show a synthetic derivative of the smelly desert shrub may have the power to inhibit inflammation, cancer and other destructive processes, and boost the odds of living longer. That is, if you're a mouse. A male mouse. But the results are encouraging nonetheless.

The preliminary results, published in the journal "Aging Cell," show that male mice fed a normal diet along with a compound called "NDGA" derived from creosote bushes have survived in significantly greater numbers than mice on a normal diet.

"This is the first time to my knowledge when an agent has been shown to extend median life span in three laboratories," says University of Michigan scientist Richard A. Miller, professor of pathology at the U-M Medical School and associate director of the U-M Geriatrics Center.

Why isn't it working on the females (godammit, if I may say so)? "We don't know how NDGA is having its effect on survival in this first analysis," Miller says. "It may be that the female mice because of their hormonal status have other pathways to death and disability, or need higher or lower levels of NDGA to see an effect."

In six to 10 months, all the mice in the control group will have died and the scientists will find out if the mice fed NDGA will truly live past the normal outer limit of mousey old age.

"If NDGA turns out to extend maximal lifespan by 20 or 30 percent, people would accept that as an important finding," Miller says.

But don't get too excited...

It will take years of human testing to find out whether it will work for us - and particularly us girls, by the sounds of it.

"Even if this agent turns out to be good for mice, it won't be possible to tell without careful studies of humans whether NDGA is beneficial, useless, or harmful to people."

So for the time being, we'll have to wait - and not too long I hope. After all, I'm not getting any younger.