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Health Q&A: Why Is Red Wine Healthy?
Q: You hear a lot about red wine doing you good in many ways; how and why does it do that?
A: Johan Auwerx, head of research at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France, answers:
"What makes red wine so healthy is how it works on a cellular level. Compounds in red wine [such as the antioxidant resveratrol] contribute to the better functioning of the cell, mainly the mitochondria, which leads to better energy handling, similar to what was seen in my recent study on mice. This causes a many-layered effect, what we call a pleiotropic effect, where it will then benefit multiple systems, as well as the heart, cognition, perhaps even aging. Whether this happens from just one glass of red wine, or whether it may be a cumulative effect seen from many years of responsible drinking, well we just don't know that … yet."
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