While it is known for its delicious taste and for being the preferred drink to accompany meals at meetings, wine also offers a number of health benefits to which are now added the results of a study performed by the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, indicating that drinking wine reduces stress.
According to the cardiologist Raul Pastor, head of the department of Internal Medicine, Clinical Hospital of Buenos Aires, one glass of wine daily in the case of women and two glasses of wine a day for men, significantly reduce the oxidative stress, which damages the genetic material of cells and is responsible for ageing, as well as for tumor formation and generation of chronic diseases.
Resveratrol, a component present in red wine, is one of the new alternatives to combat cardiovascular disease and to maintain a youthful skin thanks to its antioxidant properties.
Additionally, the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, has discovered that resveratrol also stimulates an anti-stress gene, which in turn activates other genes that protect the body from infection and even from ultraviolet radiation.
Paul Schimmel, one of the scientists in charge of the investigation indicated that ?this stress response represents a stage of biology that we had overlooked, and it appears that resveratrol activates it at concentrations much lower than those used in previous studies?.
Other benefits of resveratrol are:
Cardiovascular disease: it helps reducing inflammation, prevents oxidation of cholesterol by preventing platelets from sticking together and forming clots that cause heart attacks.
Diabetes: helps preventing insulin resistance.
Cancer: reduces the spread of cancer cells.
Alzheimer: it is able to protect nerve cells from the accumulation of plaques, responsible for Alzheimer.
Previously they had already released the benefits of resveratrol, but in this particular study was discovered the way how it works on the body: according to the results, resveratrol adheres to the PARP-1 protein and this generates an anti-stress and DNA repair response factor.
As for the stress, it is a feeling that produce excessive feelings of frustration and anxiety, but at low levels can help you perform your daily activities.
Stress is generated by several reasons, depending on the lifestyle of each person, from work, economic status or relationships, and can be identified by symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, dizziness, tremors and sweating.
Doing sports, resting, eating a balanced diet and drinking wine in moderation can help reduce stress and improve your quality of life. So get going and leave the stress aside!
By: Marta Burgués
***Grabbed from: http://blog.uvinum.co.uk/stressed-outr-drink-glass-good-wine-2379305