Red Wine Might Not Be As Good For You As Originally Thought

Nooooooooooooooo.

The long-held belief that an ingredient in red wine can prolong your life and prevent heart disease has been dismissed by a team of scientists.

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Professor Richard Semba and a team from the John Hopkins University School of Medicine said in a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that there was no proof the antioxidant resveratrol found in red wine can improve your health.

Numerous studies have tried to work out why there is notably low incidence of heart disease in France, despite a generally high-fat diet, a phenomenon known as the “French paradox”.

It has been claimed it may have something to do with residents consuming products which contain resveratrol, such as dark chocolate, red wine, and berries.

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The team from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore examined almost 800 people from the Chianti region in Italy over nine years to see if drinking red wine had any impact on their general health.

And professor Semba now said there is no evidence to support the belief resveratrol can have a positive effect on your health.

“The story of resveratrol turns out to be another case where you get a lot of hype about health benefits that doesn’t stand the test of time,” he said.

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“The thinking was that certain foods are good for you because they contain resveratrol. We didn’t find that at all.”

Semba said any health benefits from drinking red wine or eating dark chocolate and berries must come from another shared ingredient.

There have now been calls for more research, with the British Heart Foundation currently conducting its own study into resveratrol.