Slow Aging - Red Wine - 100 bottles a day...

Posted 06/06/2008 at 09:33 AM by Dirk

The New York Times got our attention with a recent story that "red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan." Actually, I first noticed the story while I was on the internet admiring the wave of interest in our "Floatovoltaic" solar system, (see last week's blog).

There was a short intro to a story being covered by the New York Times. They are reputable, so I clicked on it. Wouldn't you click on something that promises slower aging and 100 bottles a day in the same sentence? It's true. It said 100 bottles a day!

I had to believe that it was a major typo that would have some anti-alcohol citizens seeing red, so I read the article. (Professional curiosity of course.)  No one drank 100 bottles but there were some mice that got "resveratrol," a compound found in red grape skins, at doses that were equal to 35 to 100 bottles a day. (I had visions of the test mice keeping their little mice sommeliers running for more wine!) It seems that they didn't get a mouse wine list, they didn't get to sniff the mouse cork, they didn't get to swirl. It was the "future" and they were trying taking a pill. Damn!!!

I don't think that they understand that wine's greatest gift for aging is that wine drinkers get to do it gracefully. If you drink wine, you know that drinking wine involves slowing down, sharing food and wine, sharing conversation, sharing friendship and enjoying life. I can't guarantee or measure the longevity of such "civilized" wine behavior, but I have been convinced that the enjoyment factor was a part of what we all call "The French Paradox."

While I think that drinking strictly for health reasons as if wine were medicine (it's not) is unwise (I considered saying "nuts".), I wonder where such research could lead. Are people going to order two resveratrol with their bottle of Dragonfly Cabernet?  (It does make me wonder if scientists are going to get to the point of finding that the resveratrol from one appellation is finer than that from another...where would it end?)

Therefore, I recommend that you open a bottle of red wine, pour a glass, and bask in the moment that you can enjoy it without having to learn how to say or type resveratrol.

In the meantime, those poor mice get the pills, no wine, and have to look forward to added years of trying to find the exit door from their maze.

E-Mail | Digg this! | del.icio.us
Dirty Talk on Wine RSS | Comments RSS for this post