The medicine's in the (wine) bottle
Some red wines contain such high levels of polyphenols that a single glass has equivalent bioactivity to several daily doses of an anti-diabetes drug.
Polyphenols play a key role in the health benefits of wine by acting as antioxidants that prevent cell damage, but the other possible effects of these chemicals are not yet fully understood. Now, scientists report in Food & Function that they have shed light on this area by examining polyphenols in eight Austrian red wines. They assessed polyphenol activity towards a receptor called PPAR-gamma (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma). This receptor is present in many tissues in the body, and is primarily involved in the development of fat cells, in energy storage, and in modifying lipid and glucose levels in the blood, making it a key target for drugs for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
When the team ran PPAR-gamma binding assays, they found that not only did these compounds bind to the receptor, but that the wines contained enough of them to rival the activity of the potent drug rosiglitazone, which is used to treat type 2 diabetes.
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