| Longevity interests a lot of people who aren't | | | | stimulus/response tests. And the neurons in their |
| ready to give up their lives, just yet, and who | | | | brains didn't decay as quickly when they died and |
| look to healthy alternatives to culturally defined | | | | were dissected. |
| eating patterns and "health care." | | | | Resveratrol, an organic compound contained in the |
| The benefits of drinking wine have been touted | | | | skins of grapes that protects them from disease, |
| for a while and are thought, by some, to be the | | | | is extracted from grapes by the wine making |
| reason why the French can get away with eating | | | | process. The wine becomes a preservative for |
| a high fat diet while enjoying a low rate of | | | | the resveratrol and prevents its oxidation. |
| coronary disease. | | | | That's why drinking grape juice or eating raisins |
| A few years ago, a study by French research | | | | doesn't have the same effect; the resveratrol has |
| team also found that men who regularly drank at | | | | neither been extracted nor preserved. It's also |
| least two glasses of wine daily were 50 percent | | | | been shown that resveratrol in food supplements |
| less likely than non-drinkers to suffer a second | | | | oxidizes upon exposure to air and loses its |
| heart attack. | | | | effectiveness. |
| Previous studies with yeast, a small species of | | | | Red wine may truly be a "wondrous drug!" |
| worm, and fruit flies have shown that resveratrol | | | | Other studies have shown that wine, especially |
| -- a polyphenol antioxidant found in grapes, | | | | red wine, can help prevent colds, increase the |
| especially red grapes, and particularly pinot noir | | | | levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, lower the risk of |
| grapes which are grown in northern latitudes and | | | | Alzheimer's, reduce the size and number of fat |
| used in wines coming from New York, | | | | cells in the body, reduce the risk of prostate |
| Washington, and Oregon -- is a life-extending | | | | cancer, and has anti-inflammatory properties to |
| compound. | | | | boot. |
| In a new study from Italy, resveratrol has been | | | | Drug companies are trying to copy Red wine may |
| used to increase the life span of a short-lived | | | | truly be a "wondrous drug!", but might not be able |
| breed of tropical fish by more than 50%. Not only | | | | to preserve it's health-preserving benefits. |
| did fish given resveratrol in their food live longer | | | | Besides, resveratrol is freely available in red wine |
| than the control group, they stayed livelier as | | | | and not patentable as such. |
| they aged and displayed better memory in | | | | |