The Health Benefits of Red Wine

A recent study in Nature magazine reported that a compound in red wine called resveratrol helped mice live longer. The resveratrol seemed to mimic eating a very low calorie diet, which is associated with longer life span, despite the fact that the mice were actually eating a high calorie diet. Will this work with people? Beats me, but I'm drinking a glass of red wine a day just in case. :)

You can find out more info about the study at http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/nov2006/nia-01.htm

To top it off, another study (also in Nature magazine) just reported that the compound in red wine that provides cardioprotective action has been identified. Scientists believe that oligomeric procyanidins in red wines are responsible for heart health benefits. According to the study, people living in Nuoro province, Sardinia and southwest France have higher than normal average life-span. Wines from those areas, scientists found, had a significantly higher oligomeric procyanidin content than wines from other places (including Australia, California, etc).

Does this mean that there will be a sudden surge in popularity of wines from southwest France? I will be very interested to find out!

You can find out more about this study here.