So, this is the secret behind the ‘red wine is good for the heart‘ phrase that I’ve always heard everytime we drink wine. It’s Resveratrol. It’s a natural substance found in certain plants, grapes being a particular example, and thus resveratrol found its way in red wine.
For the academically inclined, resveratrol is a kind of polyphenol, specifically, a stilbenoid, which particular plants produce when being attacked by fungi or bacteria.
So far, I’ve heard only of experiments conducted on animals, the animals being fed certain doses of resveratrol. The reports are particularly interesting in that the results showed that resveratrol benefits are no less than amazing. The common denominator among the reports is longer life for the animals affected in the experiments.
Mice, for instance, even when fed high cholesterol high fat diets, significantly fared well than those which were not given resveratrol. The glucose/insuling metabolism of the mice given resveratrol remained normal.
When tested a specific kind of fish which normally have short life span, there was again a significant (56%) extension of life span. Amazing.
Other resveratrol benefits include reduced formation of neurodegenerative disease components, anti-inflammatory effects, reduced replication of viruses, anti-diabetes, and reduced risks of heart disease.
Again, thus far, experimental studies of resveratrol had been limited to animals only. However, with the very favorable results being collected by various laboratories, it won’t be long before the experimentation gets levelled up. And we humans will enjoy the benefits of resveratrol, too.