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Red Wine Plus a New Oncology Blog

Although the two topics are not necessarily related, I didn't want to do two posts.

First, my wife found this one. This is old news, but since we're both big wine drinkers (mainly Pinot Noir's), I thought it was worth repeating. Whether the effects can be translated to humans is really a stretch at this point, since studies have only been performed on short lived species i.e. worms, fruit flies and small fish. Still, I figure anything to rationalize the enjoyment of wine has to be a good thing.

Red Wine Ingredient May Delay Aging

By Jennifer Warner - WebMD Medical News

A new study shows an ingredient found in red wine, ...previously shown to prolong the life of worms and fruit flies, may extend the lifespan of vertebrate animals like fish and possibly humans.

Researchers found adding resveratrol, an organic compound found in grapes and particularly in red wine [more concentrated in Pinot Noir] , to the daily diet of short-lived fish prolonged their lifespan and delayed the onset of age-related memory and other problems.

Resveratrol is one of a group of antioxidant compounds called polyphenols found in red wine that has been reported to have anti-inflammatory as well as anticancer properties....

Red Wine Buys Time

Although prior studies have shown that resveratrol can prolong the life of extremely short-life species, such as yeast, fruit flies, and worms, researchers say large-scale, lifelong studies in more species with longer life spans, such as mice, are too expensive to conduct.

In this study, published in Current Biology, researchers examined the effects of resveratrol on a small type of fish that lives only three months in captivity.

The results showed that adding the red wine ingredient to the daily diet of the fish prolonged their expected life span and slowed the progression of age-related memory and muscular problems.

Researchers found fish fed the lower dose of resveratrol lived an average of 33% longer than fish fed their normal diets, while those fed the higher dose of the red wine ingredient lived more than 50% longer.

They say the findings suggest that resveratrol is the first compound to consistently prolong the life of several very different animal groups and could become the stepping stone for creating drugs to prevent age-related diseases in humans.



I came across this site after doing my usual review of the hundred plus blogs a peruse in a day. The site was established by Zach Goldsmith, who is studying to be an oncologist at Temple University. While this site is not specifically dedicated to blood and lymphatic cancers, if it lives up its intent, I believe it can be a learning experience for everyone.


Oncology Updates was created to document this unique period in medical oncology, in which molecular-based therapeutics and diagnostics are quickly revolutionizing this field. The articles on this site describe these current advances, and include links to relevant citations in the primary literature and reliable media sources. In the spirit of open-access information, replies and comments to any post on this site are strongly encouraged. Thanks for visiting!

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