Red wine as a cure all, especially for the brain and heart. Thanks to the antioxidant resveratrol.

Scarcely a month goes by when some new benefit of red wine isn't announced. The news is that it protects men against prostate cancer.

Scientists have long observed that drinking red wine seems to prolong life. The first clue was what's known as "the French paradox." Studies in the 1960s and 1970s revealed that despite consuming a high-fat diet—all those cheeses and foie gras—the French have much lower rates of death from heart disease than Americans do. Something about red wine protects against heart disease.

Scientists discovered that red wine has powerful effects on the brain, too. It protects against Alzheimer's disease, and it generally staves off mental decline.

Until now, no one has known how red wine protects brain, heart and other organs of the body. It's definitely not the alcohol, as alcohol is in its own right a metabolic toxin, most especially through its chief metabolite, acetaldehyde; liver damage is just part of the danger it poses. Besides, if it were the alcohol, white wine would have as much beneficial effect as red wine—but that's not the case.

By the early 1990s, it was becoming clear that something relatively unique to red wine provided significant heart protection, and a hunt began for the active ingredient. The major difference between red wine and white wine is grape skins. In the making of white wine, only the pressed juice of the grapes is fermented. But in the making of red wine, the juice of the grapes is allowed to ferment with the skins, from which it gets its color.

The pigment molecules of plants are typically molecules known as flavonoids. And many of them have powerful biological effects. They can make blood less sticky and thus less likely to form clots, and they can inhibit cancer growth. They've also been found far more powerful than Vitamin E in keeping blood fats like cholesterol from getting oxidized and contributing to atherosclerosis.

Lots of fruits and vegetables, however, contain flavonoids. But red grapes have one that few other plants have, called resveratrol. Aside from red grapes, only peanuts, blueberries, and some species of pine trees are known to produce this particular antioxidant.

Lab studies of resveratrol have demonstrated an impressive list of health benefits. It keeps blood from clotting and plugging up arteries, it lowers blood pressure, and it prevents cancer. It's even been shown to promote the formation of new connections between brain cells—and the more connections, the more memory remains intact as you age.

The health benefits of resveratrol consumption turn out to be a lucky accident. Grapes actually produce resveratrol in order to defend themselves against invasion by fungus.

It may be that one day soon you can buy resveratrol-enhanced wine or grape juice. Scientists at the Salk Institute in San Diego discovered how to boost the enzyme in grapes that is responsible for creating resveratrol.

In the meantime, what protects plants can also protect you. Here's to resveratrol.

红葡萄酒是一种灵丹妙药，特别是对于大脑和心脏。这是由于抗氧化剂白藜芦醇的作用

喝红酒不到一个月时间，就宣布了一条新闻。这条新闻是红葡萄酒具有防止前列腺癌的作用。

科学家经过长期研究，发现喝红葡萄酒可以延年益寿。第一条线索是广为人知的“法国人似非而是的话语”。上世纪六十及七十年代的研究显示，尽管人们摄入高脂肪食物（干酪和肥肝之类），法国人心脏病死亡率却低于美国人。红葡萄酒中某些物质防止心脏病的发生。

科学家发现红葡萄酒对大脑也有显著的作用，可防止阿尔茨默海病，并可延缓智力衰退。

直至现在，没有人知道红葡萄酒是如何保护大脑、心脏和身体其它器官的。起作用的肯定不是酒精，因为酒精有自身的性质，是一种代谢毒素，特别是通过其代谢产物－－乙醛，危害肝脏，这仅仅是其危害的一部分。况且，如果是酒精起的作用，白葡萄酒则会有与红葡萄酒同样的作用。但情况并非如此

时至上世纪90年代，人们开始明白是红葡萄酒中独有的物质给心脏提供了充分的保护，搜寻活性成分的活动开始了。红葡萄酒与白葡萄酒的主要区别在于葡萄皮。在制作白葡萄酒的过程中，只对压出的葡萄汁进行发酵；而在红葡萄酒的制作过程中，对葡萄汁与葡萄皮一块进行发酵，这样红葡萄酒就有了颜色。

植物色素分子通常是名为类黄酮的分子，其中的许多都具有显著的生理作用：可降低血粘度从而降低血栓形成的可能性；还可抑制癌细胞的生长。人们还发现它们在阻止血脂被氧化及形成动脉硬化方面比维生素E的作用还要大。

尽管许多水果和蔬菜都含有类黄酮，但是红葡萄却含有极少数植物才有的被叫作白藜芦醇的类黄酮。除红葡萄以外，已知仅有花生、蓝莓及某些种类的松树产生这一独特的抗氧化剂。

对白藜芦醇的实验室研究表明它具有一系列的保健作用：阻止血液凝结而堵塞动脉血管；降低血压；防止癌症；甚至促进形成脑细胞间新的连接的－－连接越多，记忆力随年龄的增长就保留得越多。

白藜芦醇保健作用的发挥是一件幸运而偶然的事。实际上葡萄树产生白藜芦醇是为了保护其自身免受菌类的入侵。

也许，能买到白藜芦醇强化葡萄酒或葡萄汁的那一天指日可待。位于圣地亚哥的索尔克研究所（Salk Institute）发现了提高葡萄树中与产生白藜芦醇有关的酶的方法。

在保护植物的同时还能保护人的就是白藜芦醇