There’s a new reason to love wine! On days you just can’t find the time to squeeze in a workout, pour yourself a glass of wine instead. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch, but a study published in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, found that resveratrol, the natural polyphenol found in red wine, might have more health benefits than previously reported. It may also help fight muscle loss, which occurs when we miss workouts and don’t move our bodies enough.
Scientists were looking for ways to help prevent the toll spaceflight takes on astronaut’s bodies – muscle atrophy, force reduction, insulin resistance, substrate use shift from fats to carbohydrates, and bone loss. The study subjected two groups of rats to weightless conditions for 15 days, with one group receiving resveratrol supplements. The supplement group maintained muscle mass, strength, bone mineral density, and insulin sensitivity.
Resveratrol’s ability to maintain muscle mass in humans needs to be studied further (not to mention drinking a glass of wine certainly isn’t going to take care of the calories you would burn lifting weights or doing cardio). But in the meantime, there are plenty of other reasons to drink wine. Resveratrol also contains anti-cancer agents, has been found to help reduce body fat, and may even slow down the aging process.
The benefits of red wine are limited to one or two glasses of wine, not half a bottle! If you don’t drink wine, this doesn’t mean you should start. But for all the other wine lovers out there, here’s to another reason to raise your glass!