Why Red Wine is Good For You: Explained

Researchers have identified the health benefits of having high levels of resveratrol -- a compound commonly found in blueberries and red wine.

You may have heard that a glass of wine a day keeps the doctors away, a questionable variation of the proverbial praise for apples. However, past research has indicated rather conclusively that regular red wine intake can help preserve heath health and even prevent some types of cancer. These studies all linked the health benefits of wine and even blueberries to the compound resveratrol, as this ingredient seems to reduce inflammation.

Still, that association alone does not tell the whole story. Knowing that wine is good for you because of resveratrol then only raises the question "so why, and more importantly how, is resveratrol reducing inflammation?"

According to a study recently published in the peer-reviews scientific journal eLife, researchers have determined that resveratrol blocks interleukin 6 (IL-6) -- a protein in the immune system that provoke cell inflammation and has been previously associated with poor breast cancer survival rates.

In cancer patients these cells reportedly influence estrogen receptors, promoting the growth of breast cancer tumors. However, researchers from Scripps Researcher Institute in Florida have found that when resveratrol blocks IL-6 from ever reaching these receptors, the growth of cancer cells is not activated.

According to the authors of the study, this discovery opens up the possibility to develop new cancer treatments that target estrogen receptors in cancer cells directly, starving the tumors of their growth and staving off the spread of the disease.

Of course, research still needs to be done to look into the potential negative side to having high resveratrol levels in the human body. Thus, researchers warn that potential new treatments for recovering cancer patients are only a possibility.

Still, now those in the know can raise a glass each night knowing exactly why their wine may be good for them.

The study was published in eLife on April 25.