Red wine does indeed explain why the French get away
with a relatively clean bill of heart health despite eating a diet
loaded with saturated fats, concludes a new study.
Could
red wine help us keep fit and thin at 120?
People living in France have a much lower incidence
of coronary heart disease than those in Britain, despite their
similar intake of saturated fats - a phenomenon known as the "French
paradox".
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Red wine contins resveratrol which can blunt the toxic
effects of a high-fat diet |
Many have speculated that answer to the paradox lies
in their love of a glass or two of wine with a meal and have focused
on a chemical found in red wine called resveratrol, also a natural
constituent of grapes, pomegranates and other foods.
Earlier
studies have shown it can blunt the toxic effects of a diet very
high in fat, which causes liver damage, but this is the first study
to directly look at ageing.
Today, in the journal PLoS ONE,
researchers report that even low doses of resveratrol in the diet of
middle-aged mice has a widespread influence on the genetic levers of
ageing, and may confer special protection on the heart.
Specifically, the researchers found that low doses
of resveratrol mimic the helpful effects of what is known as caloric
restriction, diets with the full range of nutrients but up to 30 per
cent fewer calories than a typical diet, which extend lifespan and
slow the progression of age related diseases such as obesity,
diabetes and cancer.
"This brings down the dose of resveratrol toward the
consumption reality mode," says senior author Prof Richard Weindruch
of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
But, importantly, resveratrol is just one of many
"healthy chemicals", called polyphenols in wine. Now, he says, it is
possible to see how a glass or two can have a health effect.
"Resveratrol mimics a significant fraction of the
profile of caloric restriction at the gene expression level,"
according to Prof Tomas Prolla, coauthor
In the new study - which compared the gene use of
animals on a restricted diet with those fed small doses of
resveratrol - the similarities were remarkable, explains lead author
Dr Jamie Barger of Madison-based LifeGen Technologies.
In the heart, for example, there are at least 1,029
genes whose functions change with age, and the organ's function is
known to diminish with age.
In animals on a restricted diet, 90 per cent of
those heart genes experienced altered gene expression profiles while
low doses of resveratrol thwarted age-related change in 92 per cent.
The new findings were associated with prevention of the decline in
heart function associated with ageing.
In short, a glass of wine or food or supplements
that contain even small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent
"a robust intervention in the retardation of cardiac ageing," the
authors note.
The new resveratrol study is also important because
it confirms studies that show eating fewer calories, which has been
shown in a wide range of species to extend lifespan, and resveratrol
may govern the same master genetic pathways related to
ageing.
