Resveratrol Might Help Fight Diabetes

Filed in archive Wine News on October 8, 2007

Last week I wrote about the link between alcohol and breast cancer, and sure enough last week also saw reports that resveratrol, a compound commonly found in red wine, might help fight diabetes. Scientists in China have found that resveratrol curbs insulin resistance in mice.

From Science Daily:

The results suggest that "red wine might have some benefits for insulin sensitivity, but it needs to be confirmed by further investigation," said Qiwei Zhai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Given the potential complications of drinking alcohol, "an even better option may be to find other natural foods enriched with resveratrol or foods supplemented with resveratrol," he added, noting that the chemical is also an active ingredient in other plants, including one called Polygonum cuspidatum used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine.

But don't think that an extra glass or two of wine will help you. First of all, the findings need to be proven on humans. And even if scientists find the same results, a person would need to consume three litres of wine in order to get the necessary amount of resveratrol. It's much more likely that a pill would be developed.

The findings appear in October's edition of the journal Cell Metabolism.