Wine And Chocolate Could Prevent Aging
With a couple of glasses of wine in you, you feel young again and chocolate bar makes you feel happy. We find different reasons to have a glass of wine. What if we tell you that we have got one essential reason to have wine and chocolate?
Yes, we’ve got one.
Study reveals that drinking wine and eating chocolate helps prevent aging. The numerous benefits of red wine and dark chocolate are thought to be a result of the presence of a chemical substance called resveratrol.
The research was led by Lorna Harries, a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Exeter, and the first author of the paper is Dr. Eva Latorre.
The study concentrated on the previous research, which found that so-called splicing factors-a type of protein-becomes inactive as we age.
Researchers added “resveralogues” or chemicals similar to resveratrol, to aging human cells. This made old cells look younger but they also started dividing again.
Dr. Latorre shared:
“When I saw some of the cells in the culture dish rejuvenating I couldn’t believe it. These old cells were looking like young cells. It was like magic. I repeated the experiments several times and in each case, the cells rejuvenated. I am very excited by the implications and potential of this research.”
mRNA splicing explained by Professor Harries:
The information in our genes is carried in our DNA. Every cell in the body carries the same genes, but not every gene is switched on in every cell. That’s one of the things that make a kidney cell a kidney cell and heart cell a heart cell. When a gene is needed, it is switched on and makes an initial message called an RNA that contains the instructions for whatever the gene makes. The interesting thing is that most genes can make more than one message.”
“The initial message is made up of building blocks that can be maintained or omitted to make different messages. This inclusion or elimination of the building blocks is done through a process called mRNA splicing, whereby the different blocks are joined as necessary. It’s a bit like a recipe book, where you can make vanilla sponge or a chocolate cake, depending on whether you add chocolate or not.
According to the co-author of the study Professor Richard Faragher, says:
At a time when our capacity to translate new knowledge about the mechanisms of aging into medicines and lifestyle advice is limited only by a chronic shortage of funds, older people are ill-served by self-indulgent science fiction. They need practical action to restore their health, and they needed it yesterday.”
Professor Harries also shared their future plans:
“We are now trying to see if we can find out how the changes in splicing factor levels cause call rescue. We have more papers in preparation for this so watch this space!”
Therefore, enjoy your daily glass of wine and your dark chocolate and feel the positive effects of resveratrol!
