Drinking Red Wine May Slow Aging

Compound Found in Red Wine May Increase Cell Longevity

Researchers may be one step closer to finding the fountain of youth.
They say they've identified how a compound commonly found in red
wine, peanuts, and grapes slows the aging process while increasing
maximum lifespan.

The compound is called resveratrol -- a natural antioxidant. For
years, researchers have studied reservatrol, linking it to reduced
risk of cancer, atherosclerosis, heart disease, and brain diseases
such as Alzheimer's disease -- all diseases that are more prevalent
as we age.

Researchers have been anxiously trying to identify substances that
influence age-regulating genes. And it looks like reservatrol may be
one of them. They say the discovery could possibly help them develop
drugs that extend life or treat aging-related diseases such as
Alzheimer's disease or heart disease. Their study appears in the
latest issue of Nature.

Extending Cell Life

The Harvard medical school researchers note there is existing
evidence that calorie restriction can extend lifespan across a range
of species. The new study shows that resveratrol -- commonly found in
plants (fruits and nuts, especially in red grapes, mulberries,
raspberries, and peanuts) -- may be able to replicate this process,
allowing cells to live longer.

After screening thousands of molecules, the research group says it
found that resveratrol mimics calorie restriction in yeast --
activating enzymes that slow aging, increasing the stability of DNA,
hence extending lifespan by as much as 70%. Researchers suspect
plants make these age-slowing molecules as a defense response.

Reservatrol is associated with a surprising number of health
benefits, most notably in age-related diseases, including: cancer,
atherosclerosis, and brain disorders.

Researchers now hope to eventually test how resveratrol works in
other subjects, including humans.

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SOURCE: Howitz, K. Nature, Aug. 24, 2003.
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Red Wine Counteracts Cigarette Smoking

Rich Benefits of Antioxidants Found in Red Wine Reduce Damage From
Cigarette Smoking

Sept. 4, 2003 -- Is it a smoker's dream? Red wine offsets the bad
effects of cigarette smoking, a new study shows.

Just don't take the news at face value, researchers stress. Rather,
the study shows the benefits of antioxidants found in wine --
protecting cells from the most serious damage, they say.

Their report comes from the European Society of Cardiology, meeting
this week in Vienna.

In Taste Tests ...

In their report, researchers share results from a small study,
using "a famous Greek red wine, rich in polyphenols, which are
powerful antioxidants," says researcher John Lekakis, with Alexandra
University Hospital in Athens, in a news release.

"We managed to remove alcohol without affecting any other
constituent, producing non-alcoholic red wine," he says.

In taste tests, researchers had determined that the normal wine and
the nonalcoholic version "had similar flavor, colour and taste,
except for their alcohol content," he says. "This means the
volunteers could not distinguish which type of red wine they consumed
each time."

2 Drinks Does It

In the test they report on -- involving just 16 adults -- they looked
at effects of cigarette smoking on arteries on three occasions:

After smoking one cigarette, which is known to cause artery
dysfunction

After drinking two glasses of red wine and smoking one cigarette

After drinking two glasses of red wine -- minus the alcohol content --
and smoking one cigarette

Turns out, alcohol content didn't matter. Two glasses of red wine --
from either bottle -- within 60 minutes of smoking one cigarette
countered the effects of cigarette smoking on artery function,
Lekakis reports.

"Since the presence or absence of alcohol on the two types of wine
didn't influence the results, we can conclude that constituents of
red wine other than alcohol are responsible for the reversal of
arterial dysfunction caused by smoking," he says in the release.

Powerful Phenols

Don't misconstrue his results, Lekakis says. "This doesn't prove that
regular consumption of red wine could possibly [stop] the harmful
effect of chronic smoking." Drinking two glasses of red wine for
every cigarette smoked is not a wise idea.

However, red wine contains antioxidants -- phenols -- so powerful
that they can counteract something so harmful as smoking. That's his
message, says Lekakis.

This information is very useful in understanding how cigarette
smoking damages arteries, he says. Also, it could lead to other
discoveries of substances capable of reversing cigarette smoking's
harmful effects.

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SOURCE: News release, European Society of Cardiology Congress 2003,
Vienna, Aug. 30 - Sept. 3, 2003.
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Bottoms Up

To Your Health

Indeed, the year 2000 was a very good year for wine makers -- and not
just because it brought a bumper crop of cabernets, zinfandels, and
chardonnays. Evidence of the far-reaching health benefits of wine
continued to pour in from researchers around the world.

Here's a review of the good news for wine makers -- and wine lovers:

A Healthier Heart

Several reports in 2000 confirmed the glad tidings that wine -- in
moderation, of course -- reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease
and heart attacks. In the September issue of the Annals of Internal
Medicine, for instance, Swedish researchers at the Karolinska
Institute reported that, compared to teetotalers, light drinkers who
consumed wine cut their risk of dying prematurely by almost one
third, and wine drinkers as a group had significantly lower mortality
from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Actually, drinking any kind
of alcoholic beverage helped, the scientists found. But by far the
biggest benefit accrued to wine drinkers.

What's more, scientists are beginning to understand how wine may
bestow its salutary benefits. For starters, according to findings
published in the January 2000 issue of European Heart Journal, this
most ancient of beverages appears to dilate arteries and increase
blood flow, thus lowering the risk of the kind of clots that cut off
blood supply and damage heart muscles.

In addition, the fruit of the vine appears to boost levels of HDL,
the "good" cholesterol, and helps prevent LDL, or bad cholesterol,
from causing damage to the lining of arteries. In a study published
in the May 2000 issue of the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and
Behavior, scientists at the Institute for Research in Extramural
Medicine in Amsterdam tested 275 men and women around the age of 32.
Those who imbibed the equivalent of a glass or two of wine each day
had significantly higher levels of "good" cholesterol because they
remove the "bad" artery-clogging LDLs before they have a chance to
choke blood vessels. Indeed, wine seems to facilitate that process,
making it easier for HDLs to hustle their dangerous counterparts out
of the bloodstream.

Yet even when LDLs remain behind in the arteries, substances in wine
called phenols appear to help prevent the bad cholesterol from
causing injury. In the November 2000 Journal of Nutrition and
Biochemistry, Italian researchers from the National Institute for
Food and Nutrition Research reported that phenols seem to limit the
oxidation of LDLs, making them less capable of damaging the linings
of arteries and, therefore, less able to set the stage for
cardiovascular disease, like heart disease and stroke.

A Shield Against Cancer

Wine also may protect against several forms of another common killer:
cancer. It turns out that the same phenolic compounds that lower
heart disease risk also may slow the growth of breast cancer cells,
according to findings reported by scientists at the University of
Crete in Greece in the June 2000 issue of Journal of Cellular
Biochemistry. Phenols also were shown to suppress the growth of
prostate cancer cells. And French scientists found evidence that an
antioxidant in wine called resveratrol can put the brakes on the
growth of liver cancer cells, according to a report in the July-
August 2000 issue of Oncology Reports.

There also was a report that wine -- particularly red wine -- might
help ward off oral cancer. Researchers from the University of
Missouri School of Dentistry discovered that resveratrol and another
antioxidant called quercetin may inhibit the growth of oral cancer
cells. Their findings, published in the June 2000 Journal of the
American Dental Association, note that red wine is loaded with a slew
of other antioxidants that seem to boost its cancer-fighting
abilities.

Stronger Bones and Sharper Minds

But perhaps the most startling news of all came in studies suggesting
that moderate drinkers may cut their risk of osteoporosis -- age-
related bone thinning related to calcium loss. A report in the
American Journal of Epidemiology in April 2000 showed that women who
drank 11 to 29 grams of alcohol a day -- the equivalent of one to
three glasses of wine -- had greater bone mineral density, measured
in the hip region of their thighbones, than nondrinkers or heavy
drinkers. Bone mineral density is the measure physicians use to
determine bone strength and resilience.

That news was quickly followed by an equally encouraging report in
November in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Testing
nearly 500 elderly women, researchers from Creighton University in
Omaha, Neb., found that bone mineral density was 12% to 16% higher
among moderate drinkers, compared with nondrinkers.

And women aren't the only ones who may benefit. In a study published
in the journal Osteoporosis International in November 2000, Finnish
scientists tested 143 men aged 54-63. Compared to nondrinkers, the
men who enjoyed a glass or two of alcohol a day also showed signs of
greater bone mineral density.

How to Drink to Your Health

A healthy heart. Protection against cancer. Stronger bones. With
health benefits like those, you'd think doctors would be handing out
prescriptions for wine by the padful.

Yet despite the encouraging findings, many physicians are reluctant
to advise nondrinkers to begin drinking. With good reason: While
moderate drinking appears to offer some impressive health benefits,
excessive drinking can be deadly. It remains a sad truth that
hundreds of thousands of Americans die of liver disease and in
automobile accidents caused by drunk drivers every year.

Even the health benefits associated with wine disappear when people
drink too much. For example, the studies cited above indicating
greater bone density for women who were moderate drinkers also found
that those who drank to excess may actually have had thinner bones by
comparison. And not surprisingly, the results from the Seven
Countries Study published in the International Journal of
Epidemiology in August 2000 suggested that heavy drinkers died almost
two years earlier on average than moderate drinkers, although
(perhaps surprisingly) the moderate drinkers outlived the nondrinkers
by the same amount.

So far, there's little agreement on exactly what "moderate" drinking
means. Until medical science is better at defining the "right"
amount, limiting yourself to only two glasses a day if you're a man,
and one if you're a woman, and then only after discussing it with
your physician, is probably prudent.

"To life," the traditional drinking toast goes. To which most
researchers would add another: "In moderation."