Advertisement Research in people has shown heart benefits from red wine. And eating 30 percent less than normal can prevent heart disease in humans and prolong life spans in several species, studies have found.
Now scientists say resveratrol, the chemical in red wine thought to confer much of the drink’s health benefits, protects the hearts of mice as well as caloric restriction.
“Resveratrol really mimics some aspects of caloric restriction,” said Tomas Prolla, a UW-Madison professor of genetics and an author of the study. “Even a low dose can prevent heart aging.”
Prolla and UW-Madison medical professor Richard Weindruch, another study author, are co-founders of Madison-based LifeGen Technologies, which sells some of the technology used in the research.
A nutritional products company in Switzerland helped fund the study, also supported by federal grants. It was published in the online journal Public Library of Science One.
In a 2006 study by Harvard Medical School researchers, resveratrol lowered the rate of diabetes and liver problems in obese mice. Those mice consumed the human equivalent of more than 200 bottles of wine a day.
In the Wisconsin study, the mice consumed a somewhat more reasonable amount — the human equivalent of about 50 bottles a day. Resveratrol is available in supplements; the same amount is contained in a few pills.
The mice didn’t drink wine or take pills, however. Beginning at 14 months, or middle age, their regular, pea-sized food pellets were spiked with resveratrol.
Scientists euthanized the mice at 30 months, or old age. Their hearts, brains and muscles were analyzed for genetic changes related to the aging of those tissues.
Resveratrol blocked age-related changes in 92 percent of the genes in the heart, similar to the 90 percent improvement found in mice on caloric restriction.
Lesser beneficial effects from resveratrol were found in muscle and the brain.
The researchers haven’t studied whether resveratrol extends the life span of mice or if smaller amounts could protect hearts.
“We don’t know what the lowest effective dose is yet,” Prolla said.
Resveratrol, found in the skin of grapes, also is in peanuts, blueberries and cranberries.
Though some research findings in mice don’t end up translating to humans, Weindruch said this one probably will because studies in people have suggested a protective effect from red wine.
“It still remains to be seen, but my hunch is that in this case it will apply to humans,” he said.
Weindruch said resveratrol might explain the “French paradox” — why people in France have low rates of heart disease despite high-fat diets.
At his lab at the Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wiendruch and his colleagues have experimentally fed mice some 20 other nutrients, including vitamin E, lycopene and an extract from green tea.
Weindruch also is conducting a long-term study on the health and longevity of monkeys on caloric restriction.
He and Prolla said they take resveratrol supplements. Weindruch regularly drinks red wine; Prolla occasionally does.
But they don’t severely restrict their calorie intake, at least not consistently.
“I’ve had periods where I’ve been good about it for a month or two, but it’s not easy to do,” Weindruch said. “Food and drink are such a fun part of our social experience.”
David Wahlberg writes for the Wisconsin State Journal.
