Posts Tagged ‘Resveratrol’

“resveratrol-enhanced” wine

Thursday, February 19th, 2009

I was speaking with an industry contact today about wine’s health benefits and resveratrol in particular.  And amongst the things that came up were the scientists working on a pill form and how many glasses it is said humans need to drink to reap the health benefits of resveratrol from wine (more than is humanly possible).

http://www.vintageresveratrol.com/resveratrol%20picture.jpg

So I should not have been shocked to receive the article today (via the good folks at Wine Spectator online) about wineries developing wines with high doses (artificially added) of resveratrol.

For more details and all the technical mumbo jumbo read the article.

IN short, there is already a doctor/winemaker in Australia who says he “takes the leftover grapes after pressing and extracts residual resveratrol and concentrates it into a powder. The powder is then added to the wine before bottling.  (He) says the process, for which he holds a patent, does not change the wine’s color, clarity, nose or taste.”  Pretty wild stuff…

Apparently his concoction has 12 to 25 times more milligrams per liter of resveratrol than a regular bottle of wine.

The article goes on to theorize about whether this really does provide extra health benefits or if it is just a marketing ploy.  Who knows, but I’ll bet ya some wealthy company/individual buys this guy out for MEGA BUCKS.

Happy HEALTHY & LONG LIVING Wine Tasting!

WTG

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Healthy “GRAPES” & light pre-natal imbibing

Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Countless studies have declared the health benefits of red wine, citing compounds such as antioxidants, resveratrol, polyphenolic compounds, etc.  But for the most part it seems these benefits are said to come from wine, and often red wine in particular.  Well now (in a recent article in Wine Spectator online) I read that there are studies analyzing  whether or not these health benefits actually can be realized simply by consuming the grapes, or some other form of grape byproduct such as grape seed extract or grape powder (huh?).  The article loses me upon implying that drinking red wine to reap the health benefits is no longer necessary.  But I thought some of you might find it to be interesting.

On a separate wine & health related topic, one that stirred a bit of controversy the last time I brought it up, I found yet another piece discussing pre-natal wine consumption.

Found in a local paper and taken from the “New Science Magazine”, the study cites a University College London study whereby data was collected by more than 12,000 mothers and children in the UK over the last 7 years.  Apparently, “kids whose mothers had one to two alcoholic drinks per week during pregnancy had fewer cognitive and behavioral problems by age 3 than those of woman who abstained”.

A shocking revelation of the article, “light drinking could also help women to relax, making pregnancy less stressful”….ummm….REEEEEEALLY?!?!?!?  Husbands, stock your liquor cabinets!! 😉

I’m not taking a position here (although I have stated an unfounded opinion in the past).  Just saying guys & gals…if it helps the stress level and benefits the kids, what the heck are we making ourselves crazy for.

Seriously though, as always, pregnant women should definitely consult their physician before considering any alcoholic beverages during pregnancy.

Husbands of pregnant women however should DRINK AWAY (I hear pregnant women can be a bit…well, ya know, demanding).

Happy HEALTHY wine Tasting!

WTG

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Drink Red Wine and Live Better (but not longer)

Monday, July 28th, 2008

This according to the website of the medical journal Cell Metabolism (as per Wine Spectator online).

Yet another article about resveratrol and its benefits. This one seems to contradict others that suggested that resveratrol extends life expectancy. Here the “researchers said the compound helps keep the bones, eyes, kidneys, heart and other muscles in mice healthier as they age, though without increasing the animals’ overall lifespan”.

wine health - 2 glasses of wine

The study compared the effects of resveratrol to those of another life enhancing therapy – caloric restriction (CR), (more…)

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Cheers! And Shiraz’s peppery notes

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Cheers to red wine & a longer life!!!

red wine cheers

The NY Times had a few wine related articles today.   The first, discussed a topic that has been written about frequently here, that of “resveratrol” – the wonder-drug contained in red wine.  Previous reports had indicated that the amount of resveratrol in wine were nowhere near enough to be effective from simple wine consumption.  But one of the sources in todays article notes “a mere four, five-ounce glasses of wine “starts getting close” to the amount of resveratrol they found effective”, as opposed to previous studies that determined that “to gain (sufficient) dosages people would have to drink more than 100 bottles of red wine a day”. An interesting read that can be found here.

The other article titled “What’s the Peppery Note in Those Shirazes?”, talked about Australian (where Shiraz originated) researchers who sought to find out why there are peppery notes in Australian Shiraz.  (more…)

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Posted in wine health, Wine STUFF, wine tasting | 3 Comments »

The Patch – the Resveratrol patch that is

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

I brought up the red wine compound resveratrol in a post early last week. Discussing yet another article I found (thanks to Wine Spectator online emails) that brought up studies regarding the health benefits of resveratrol.

Well, I got another email today, this time discussing researchers in Taiwan who believe that the benefits of resveratrol are most effective not when taken orally, rather when received through the skin, as is possible through a patch.

patch.jpg

Click here for the complete article.

Who would’ve thunk it, a patch to get your red wine fix 😉

Happy….red wine…..wearing?????….creative consuming……ahhh, I don’t know. Drink up!

WTG

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Resveratrol – Scientists Move to Harness Red Wine Compound’s Power

Monday, May 19th, 2008

I’ll be attending the Wine Enthusiast “Toast of the Town” tasting later today and will have a full report posted by tomorrow. In the meantime I want to write a quick post about a compound found in red wine that is frequently mentioned as its health benefits have been cited in multiple studies.

Resveratrol is the antioxidant compound found in the skins & seeds of grapes. Since red wine is made by extracting color and flavors from the skins (and generally has the seeds in place during fermentation) Resveratrol is found (in low levels) in red wine.

I bring this up today simply as Wine Spectator online has an article in its Wine & Health section that cites two studies taking place where researchers are examining the benefits of harnessing Resveratrol & using it to treat cells associated with diseases. The article can be found here.

It should be noted however that studies surrounding Resveratrol in red wine have shown that one needs to consume a massive amount of red wine to realize the benefits Resveratrol has to offer. And while many still believe that regularly drinking (moderate amounts) of red wine is healthy, they are unsure if one reaps any of the health benefits Resveratrol has to offer from normal wine consumption. That said there is extensive research being done to find ways to administer Resveratrol in methods other than red wine consumption and the article mentions an R & D company researching Resveratrol that was recently purchased for $172M…so there must be something to this…

Happy HEALTHY COMPOUND wine tasting…& Happy Monday!

WTG

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