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.

紅葡萄酒是一種靈丹妙藥，特別是對于大腦和心臟。這是由于抗氧化劑白藜蘆醇的作用

喝紅酒不到一個月時間，就宣布了一條新聞。這條新聞是紅葡萄酒具有防止前列腺癌的作用。

科學家經過長期研究，發現喝紅葡萄酒可以延年益壽。第一條線索是廣為人知的“法國人似非而是的話語”。上世紀六十及七十年代的研究顯示，盡管人們攝入高脂肪食物（干酪和肥肝之類），法國人心臟病死亡率卻低于美國人。紅葡萄酒中某些物質防止心臟病的發生。

科學家發現紅葡萄酒對大腦也有顯著的作用，可防止阿爾茨默海病，并可延緩智力衰退。

直至現在，沒有人知道紅葡萄酒是如何保護大腦、心臟和身體其它器官的。起作用的肯定不是酒精，因為酒精有自身的性質，是一種代謝毒素，特別是通過其代謝產物－－乙醛，危害肝臟，這僅僅是其危害的一部分。況且，如果是酒精起的作用，白葡萄酒則會有與紅葡萄酒同樣的作用。但情況并非如此

時至上世紀90年代，人們開始明白是紅葡萄酒中獨有的物質給心臟提供了充分的保護，搜尋活性成分的活動開始了。紅葡萄酒與白葡萄酒的主要區別在于葡萄皮。在制作白葡萄酒的過程中，只對壓出的葡萄汁進行發酵；而在紅葡萄酒的制作過程中，對葡萄汁與葡萄皮一塊進行發酵，這樣紅葡萄酒就有了顏色。

植物色素分子通常是名為類黃酮的分子，其中的許多都具有顯著的生理作用：可降低血粘度從而降低血栓形成的可能性；還可抑制癌細胞的生長。人們還發現它們在阻止血脂被氧化及形成動脈硬化方面比維生素E的作用還要大。

盡管許多水果和蔬菜都含有類黃酮，但是紅葡萄卻含有極少數植物才有的被叫作白藜蘆醇的類黃酮。除紅葡萄以外，已知僅有花生、藍莓及某些種類的松樹產生這一獨特的抗氧化劑。

對白藜蘆醇的實驗室研究表明它具有一系列的保健作用：阻止血液凝結而堵塞動脈血管；降低血壓；防止癌癥；甚至促進形成腦細胞間新的連接的－－連接越多，記憶力隨年齡的增長就保留得越多。

白藜蘆醇保健作用的發揮是一件幸運而偶然的事。實際上葡萄樹產生白藜蘆醇是為了保護其自身免受菌類的入侵。

也許，能買到白藜蘆醇強化葡萄酒或葡萄汁的那一天指日可待。位于圣地亞哥的索爾克研究所（Salk Institute）發現了提高葡萄樹中與產生白藜蘆醇有關的酶的方法。

在保護植物的同時還能保護人的就是白藜蘆醇