In 1991 “60 Minutes” aired a program describing the French Paradox. The French have a diet high in saturated fats and yet their incidence of heart disease is far less than that of Americans.
The reason, they postulated, was the consumption of red wine. Wine lovers rejoiced and American wine sales surged. As the hype started running out of control challenges started to be made. The French diet after all was considerably different to the American diet. Factors cited included eating habits, particularly not snacking between meals, serving sizes, not indulging in fast foods, smoking, taking time to savor and digest a meal. The list of contributing factors grew longer and longer. The controversy sparked interest from the scientific community and research began in earnest.
One test was set up to see what effect alcohol had on heart disease. It had long been reported that a moderate amount of alcohol was good for health. The test involved providing half of the participants with gin and the other half with red wine. The red wine drinkers showed a significant improvement in heart health over the gin drinkers.
(I’m not sure how one gets to participate in these trials but if anyone reading this needs someone to sample the finest Pinot Noirs, I am available).
Now one might expect that as controlled experiments kicked in and variables were eliminated, that claims made to explain the French Paradox would start to crumble. Generally, controlled experiments eliminate a lot of variables. Then in February 2006 the cover of Fortune Magazine was emblazoned with a glass of red wine being poured and the caption “Drink Wine and Live Longer”. Not only did the latest research show that red wine was good for your heart but it slowed down the aging process. Wine lovers rejoiced and sales surged.
It appears that the magic ingredient is Resveratrol, a polyphenol. Resveratrol is produced naturally by certain plants to fight off attacks by pathogens such as bacteria and fungi. It is evident in the grape skins and hence it is found only in red wine which is fermented in contact with the grape skins. White wines are fermented after the skins have been removed. The article claims that “it kept overfed mice from gaining weight, turned them into the equivalent of Olympic marathoners, and seemed to slow down their aging process”. The amount of resveratrol found in grape skins also varies with the type of grape, its geographic origin, and exposure to fungal infection. Some Pinot Noirs contain as much as forty times the amounts found in other red wines.
I am having disturbing visions that somewhere a bunch of overfed rodents are enjoying some of our finest wines.
Resveratrol, in addition to being heart protective, is now believed to be therapeutically beneficial to patients with Alzheimer’s, diabetes, ischemia and Huntingdon’s disease.
Could the news be any better? It turns out resveratrol is also present in dark chocolate and peanuts, particularly peanut butter. Also if you do not drink alcohol it is present in grape juice. The best choice is juice made from dark concord grapes.
The Fortune Magazine article outlined a start-up biotech company, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals engaged in developing resveratrol for therapeutic use. The company was formed in 2004 and had attracted $82M in venture capital. I checked up on this company, often referred to as an anti-aging company but now focused on type 2 diabetes. Why? Well, it turns out that the FDA don’t class aging as a disease. By May 2007 Sirtris went public with a $60M offering and a year later it was acquired for $720M by GlaxoSmithKline.
A recent report published in The Lancet shows that based on current trajectories, more than half of all babies born in industrialized nations since the year 2000 can expect to live into the triple digits. Resveratrol may well play a role in achieving that. I’m sticking with red wine.
Cheers
