A new scientific study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry has recently reported that drinking red wine could help prevent weight gain and control obesity.
The substance, called piceatannol, is said to delay the generation of young fat cells and prevent them from growing into mature fat cells. It works by blocking insulin’s ability to activate genes that carry out further stages of fat cell formation. The agent is also thought to help protect against neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. The groundbreaking research was carried out at Purdue University, Indiana.
Lead researcher Dr Kee-Hong Kim, assistant professor of food science at the university, commented: “We are now testing our idea using animal model obesity to see if it has the same beneficial functions.”
While we’re on the subject of health, a Kazakhstan zoologist at Karaganda zoo in central Kazakhstan feeds red wine to her monkeys to ward off winter colds. “We give the monkeys wine because in the winter it protects them from respiratory infections,” the AFP news agency quoted Ms Pilyuk as saying. Apparently most of the monkeys appreciate their daily tot, which is prepared by adding fruit, sugar and hot water. “After all, primates are just like people. They enjoy drinking an alcoholic drink, they like it. Some of them even abuse it, coming up to the drinking trough several times,” she said.
