Red wine could influence aging and protect the heart

Resveratrol has been shown to extend the lifespan of invertebrates and prevent premature mortality in mice and may provide the key to the "French Paradox" - the typical French diet is high in saturated fats, but seems to be associated with low cardiovascular risk.

This study, conducted on middle-aged mice, looked at the effect of low doses of resveratrol on the brain, heart and muscle by looking for changes in gene expression over time as genes were switched on or off. The changes were compared with mice who were fed a low calorie diet.

The low doses of resveratrol showed effects that were similar to those of a low calorie diet. For example, in normal control mice, there are at least 1029 known gene expression changes with age which correlated with diminishing function in the organ. On the restricted diet, the mice showed differences in 90% of those changes in gene expression, while mice with low doses of resveratrol showed different patterns in 92% of the normal aging changes in the heart. These findings could help explain the prevention in the decline in heart function related to age.

A glass of wine, portion of food, or nutritional supplement that includes even a small dose of resveratrol could become "a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac aging." This finding could help explain the relative cardiac health of people living in certain regions of France, where diets are high in saturated fats - in France, meals are traditionally accompanied by a glass of red wine.