Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Cheers!


Recent research out of Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging suggests that an ingredient found in red wine, resveratrol, may reduce the incidence of the health-related consequences typically associated with obesity. When obese mice were administered heavy doses of resveratrol, their fat-related deaths dropped by 31%.

As for the resveratrol-enhanced mice? “‘They’re chubby, but inside they look great,’” says study co-author David Sinclair of Harvard in a Metro report. Sinclair’s co-author, Rafael de Cabo, with the National Institutes on Aging, states in a Harvard Medical School News Release, “‘After six months, resveratrol essentially prevented most of the negative effects of the high calorie diet in mice.’”

Preliminary results indicate that resveratrol may be associated with lower incidences of diabetes, heart disease, and liver dysfunction, even in obese populations, when the prevalence of these diseases, historically, has been thought to be directly related to patients’ weight. Again, we’re confronted with data suggesting that it’s impossible to posit a one-to-one correlation between weight and health, that a multitude of factors (e.g., physical fitness, genetics, even mass amounts of red wine consumption) may moderate this relationship.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cheers indeed! I drink wine every night, and I guess I'll keep it up!

Anonymous said...

1) Is it resveratrol, or reservatrol? I'm confused.

2) For those of us too vain about our teeth to indulge regularly in red wine, will a grapeseed extract capsule in a good brand do?
Or should we just get a straw and suck it up (literally :D)?

Anonymous said...

The rest of the study data went on to state that the rats were being fed the resveratrol equivalent to a human drinking 100 bottles of red wine a day. So you're going to have to party very hearty to duplicate similar effects.

Anonymous said...

Wow, anon 6:26. (*smirk*)

GSE capsules, here I come.

drstaceyny said...

anon--; )

lm--I've seen it written as both--apparently, it's whatever you'd like it to be (insert apt metaphor here). Not sure abt wine vs. capsules--I think the straw-look could be catchy. . .

anon--indeed!

Anonymous said...

Whenever I see the chubby mice, in obesity experiements..I think of Boh from Spirited Away. If you don't know, who I'm referring to, click this link:

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/synopsis/Miming.jpg

The mouse in the middle of the little black creatures, is Boh.

Anonymous said...

Didn't this study also find that a human would have to drink ungodly amounts of red wine to get these effects? I think we are too quick to leap on easy fixes for our nutritional problems.