To the delight of wine enthusiasts everywhere, a recent study found that red wine can help offset the effects of a high fat diet. Ideal Wine Company investigates.
Wine and health
If you drink red wine in reasonable quantities, it can provide you with a number of key health benefits. Previous studies have shown that drinking wine can be as beneficical as hour in the gym, good for your memory and could cure your acne.
Study after study suggests that the health benefits of red wine can be linked to resveratrol. This is a compound with anti-oxidant properties found in the skin of red grapes, meaning that resveratrol often features in red wine. A previous study suggested that resveratrol mirrors the positive effects of aerobic exercise on mice, when they’re fed a high fat/high sugar diet.
Study’s findings
These findings have been corroborated by new research carried out by Georgetown University Associate Professor JP Hyatt. The Indian Express reports that Hyatt and his researchers gave one control group of rhesus monkeys a healthy diet and a second group a high sugar/high fat diet. Half of the subjects also received a resveratrol supplement, with the study designed to show how different parts of the body, especially the muscles in the back of the leg, responded to this compound.
The team looked at three lower hind muscles – ‘slow’ ‘fast’ and ‘mixed,’ finding that each reacted differently to the diet and the resveratrol. The study showed that the soleus, a ‘slow’ muscle used considerably for standing and walking, was most affected by both the diet and the addition of resveratrol. This may be because it is used more than the other two muscles on a daily basis.
The researchers also examined the five to ten inch muscle which stretches along the calf, which is called a ‘plantaris’ muscle. They found that this muscle responded positively to the resveratrol and did not have a negative reaction to the diet. Finally, the last muscle did not show a reaction to either the diet of the resveratrol supplements.
Well balanced approach.
This study doesn’t suggest that by drinking wine, you can make up for a bad diet. Rather, it implies if you team red wine with a healthy diet, you can really reap the benefits. Try the buy the Hermitage La Chapelle 1985 from the Ideal Wine Company. By consuming just a glass of this scintillating Rhone red with a balanced diet, you can enjoy yourself and retain a healthy lifestyle!
