wine and health

There’s nothing like a good study on red wine as a weight loss aid to get attention, but in the case of a recent study from Washington State University it’s not quite so simple. Gilliam Fuller, writing for Elite Daily, led with “ Drink Up: Science Says Red Wine Can Actually Help You LoseWeight ” while the Sentinel Republic headlined simply “ Red wine can help you lose weight .” Meanwhile Chris Mercer reported in Decanter.com on the United Kingdom’s National Health Service weighing in with “ Red wine weight loss theory is ‘nonsense ’.” They’re all partly right, but mostly wrong. The study analyzed fat metabolism in mice given resveratrol, finding that it promoted conversion of normal white fat cells into brown fat, which is associated with higher metabolism and less weight retention. It was a well done study, but findings in mice given resveratrol cannot be directly extrapolated to humans consuming wine. So UK health officials were correct in stating that “‘based on mice studies onl...