Skip to main content

ACE your high blood pressure test with wine

94. Resveratrol gets all the attention but it is far from the only healthy thing in wine (in fact it is a relatively minor component.) Another class of compounds call oligomeric proanthocyanidins (let's just call them OPC's) have a unique mechanism for lowering blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Buenos Aires found that they inhibit an enzyme called Angiotensin Converting Enzyme which contributes to hypertension in many people. Prescription ACE inhibitors are available as well, but who wouldn't rather drink a glass of red wine? It does have to be red, and it does have to be wine, because OPC's come almost exclusively from the seeds and alcoholic fermentation is required for extraction.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Versatile resveratrol: the ultimate skin care ingredient?

  Part 1 Recently I was honored to join Professors David Sinclair of Harvard and Joseph Vercauteren of the University of Montpelleir at an anti-aging symposium at the invitation of Mathilde Thomas of Caudalie in Paris. Caudalie has been using wine extracts (and specifically resveratrol) in their products for more than 15 years, after Vercauteren identified it in wine grape vines. Sinclair has become well known for his work identifying the role of sirtuin (SIRT) genes in anti-aging, and resveratrol as a natural sirtuin activator. While much remains to be proven, it is fair to say that science is finally beginning to have an impact on skin care. With an increasing understanding of what causes aging in skin cells and how botanical antioxidants such as resveratrol work at a molecular level, there is no excuse to use anti-aging skin care products that don’t multitask. Before delving into the potential benefits of resveratrol in skin care, it may help to review ho...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisiting resveratrol: new findings rekindle anti-aging debate

Just when we thought the bloom was off the rosé for resveratrol, the anti-oxidant polyphenol from red wine with multiple anti-aging properties, along comes new research giving life to the debate. But first a bit of background: As I detailed in my book Age Gets Better with Wine , it is well-documented that wine drinkers live longer and have lower rates of many diseases of aging. Much or the credit for this has been given to resveratrol, though there isn’t nearly enough of it in wine to explain the effects. Nevertheless, I dubbed it the “miracle molecule” and when it was reported to activate a unique life-extension phenomenon via a genetic trigger called SIRT, an industry was born, led by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, quickly acquired by pharma giant Glaxo. The hope was that resveratrol science could lead to compounds enabling people to live up to 150 years and with a good quality of life. But alas, researchers from other labs could not duplicate the results, and clinical studies disa...
7 comments
Read more