1. Red Wine Antioxidants May Boost Endurance
Athletes the world over perked up and paid attention when the results of several studies on red wine antioxidants were published. A polyphenol known as resveratrol has been shown to significantly increase endurance in studies on rats and mice. While animal studies aren't nearly as definitive as human studies, it has since been discovered that resveratrol work on the mitochondria, tiny organs within each cell that work very similarly in humans and in mice. If the effect holds true in humans, it means that people can receive benefits of endurance training with less effort, or get stronger and faster at the same level of training.
2. Red Wine Has Anti-Carcinogenic Constituents
Resveratrol may strongly affect the way hormones work on breast cancer cells. By blocking the hormone's stimulating effect on the tumor cells, resveratrol may help prevent certain types of cancer.
The catch is that resveratrol is poorly absorbed, so scientists think that it will have the strongest effect on tumors that it can reach directly. The research trials so far seem to confirm this, with some studies showing positive effects on skin and colon cancer cells.
3. Watch Your Wine Intake
The doses used have been massive in all the studies that have found positive effects, whether for endurance or for anti-carcinogenic purposes. Some doses were the human equivalent of a 500 mg capsule. It would be impossible to get that much from red wine without drinking yourself into an alcoholic coma. Red wine at low doses can reduce cardiovascular disease risk; However it also raises other disease risks. Weigh carefully the decision to drink wine for its supposed health benefits. Because alcohol can increase blood pressure and slow down liver metabolism, it may do more harm than good in some people.
4. Find Red Wine Antioxidants From Other Sources
Though red wine contains a number of beneficial compounds, they can be found in many places. For example, the tannins in red wine, such as catechin, can also be found in green tea. Resveratrol is also present in a number of other plants, such as mulberries and blueberries, but the richest source comes from Asia. The herb known as polygonum cuspatidum, Hu Zhang or flowery knotweed contains many times the amount of resveratrol found in any other plant studied so far.
5. Weighing Long-Term Safety and Effectiveness.
Traditional Chinese Medicine has used herbs containing resveratrol with safety and efficacy for centuries. Still, the long-term effect of taking isolated, extracted and concentrated resveratrol in high doses has yet to be determined. More studies on humans need to be performed, and the manufacturer's claims must be verified before resveratrol can have more than an experimental role in treating serious diseases.
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