New studies Is red wine healthy?

Red Wine: Resveratrol activates ancient cell protection

31.12.2014

For years scientists have not agreed whether red wine is healthy or not healthy. The ingredient resveratrol has been certified in the past in investigations often a health-promoting effect. But some researchers came to opposite conclusions. A new study could red wine drinkers now hope again.

Positive effects in different diseases
For a long time, scientists have been arguing over whether red wine - in moderation - is healthy, or whether one should do without small quantities even better. In studies, the red wine contained in the resveratrol positive effects in diseases such as arteriosclerosis (atherosclerosis), Alzheimer's, arthritis or heart disease was certified. In November, for example, researchers from the Mainz University Medical Center, in cooperation with scientists from the University of Jena and the University of Vienna, gained better insights into how resveratrol inhibits the formation of inflammatory factors that trigger cardiovascular diseases such as a heart attack.

Scientists come to different conclusions
However, there are always studies that relativize or negate the results of other studies. Some scientists say that it is not right that resveratrol has a healing effect against cancer cells. In May, a research team led by Richard Semba from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, concluded in a long-term study that there is no evidence that resveratrol has a life-prolonging effect. Björn Lemmer, emeritus professor of pharmacology at the University of Heidelberg, said back then that the reputation of resveratrol had suffered from this study. Even as a health food resveratrol can no longer be marketed. The substance is for example an important ingredient in red wine extract as a nutritional supplement on the market.

Hope for red wine drinkers
A new investigation from the US, but red wine drinker can now hope again. The scientists wanted to find out in the laboratory study, if Resveratrol prevents certain diseases. They also wanted to understand how the substance works in the cells. Biochemists Paul Schimmel and Mathew Sajish found in their study that Resveratrol activates a protective program against stress in cells. The researchers published their findings in the journal „Nature“. The scientists studied enzymes that "play a role in the transfer of genetic material and repair in the DNA structure". Resveratrol helps "to activate these processes, even a low dose has a cytoprotective effect", as the researchers reported.

„A few glasses of wine“ can protect cells
The question then arises as to why a substance that plants produce also helps human cells. The „world“ According to the researchers, resveratrol has the same function in the cells of the grapes. Thus, there is probably a common evolutionary basis of the protective mechanisms, hundreds of millions of years old. That's why „a few glasses of red wine“ protect the cells even today, as the study authors write. Although resveratrol is found mainly in red grapes, smaller amounts of the substance are also found in cocoa beans, raspberries or peanuts. (Ad)

Image: Timo Klostermeier