make you live up to 30 percent longer? It’s true! Biologists have found a
natural substance called “resveratrol” that is found in red wines,
particularly those made in the cooler wine-growing regions like Burgundy,
France and Oregon, which mimics the effect of a very low-calorie diet.
Scientists have been able to lengthen the life span of laboratory rodents
using resveratrol between 30 to 50 percent. This means that human life
may be extended by 30 percent if we respond to resveratrol the same way
that rodents do. This would explain the so-called French Paradox, whereby
the average French person lives a long time despite their unhealthy diet and
smoking. Even people that don’t start drinking red wine, thereby ingesting
the resveratrol, until they are 50 could gain an extra 10 years to their life.
Plants create resveratrol when they respond to stress, such as a lack of
nutrients, etc. Although it is found in the skin of both white and red grapes,
it is ten times higher in the red than the white. According to the Oxford
Companion to Wine, the grape that has the highest concentration of
resveratrol….yep, you guessed it…. none other than our current ‘Wine of
the Month’, Pinot Noir. That is because it is grown in cooler regions of the
world with moisture and exposure to fungus. Wines like Cabernet that grow
in sunnier and drier climates have less resveratrol in them.
Dr. David A. Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School states that, “One glass
of red wine a day is good enough, however, once the bottle of wine is open,
the resveratrol dissipates due to exposure of air and is gone within a day.”
So I say, grab some friends and let’s open a bottle of Pinot Noir and raise a
glass to a long and prosperous wine drinking life!
This information was derived from an article written by Nicholas Wade in
the New York Times.