On Jun 5, 9:02 am, Peter Brooks > wrote:
> Here's an interesting article from the Telegraph:
>
> "
> Red wine stops effects of high-fat diet
> By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
> Last Updated: 1:01am BST 04/06/2008
>
> Red wine does indeed explain why the French get away with a relatively
> clean bill of heart health despite eating a diet loaded with saturated
> fats, concludes a new study.

The study looked at middle aged mice! You would have to do extended
studies on the French before being able to come to this conclusion.

Maybe red wine is only good for mice. Maybe its variety of food and
stress free lifestyle that is good for the French? Or the fact that
they take philosophy seriously? Good weather? Or any of several other
factors or combinations.

> Today, in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers report that even low doses
> of resveratrol in the diet of middle-aged mice has a widespread
> influence on the genetic levers of ageing, and may confer special
> protection on the heart.

Douglas Adams was right to suggest that white mice actually run the
Earth. We ply them with free wine and give them the advantage of all
this advanced medical research on them! Lucky mice.

> In short, a glass of wine or food or supplements that contain even
> small doses of resveratrol are likely to represent "a robust
> intervention in the retardation of cardiac ageing," the authors note.

In mice! And only maybe. (I.e. might it be the greater attention the
mice get that increases their lifespan? Are their handlers happier and
more friendly (all that free wine going spare!)?

> The new resveratrol study is also important because it confirms
> studies that show eating fewer calories, which has been shown in a
> wide range of species to extend lifespan, and resveratrol may govern
> the same master genetic pathways related to ageing.

Guess of the week.

Prove it.