Estrogen-Like Activity from Wine You knew, didn't you? That moderate wine consumption had a positive effect on your health and disposition. Well, there is scientific evidence to confirm your thoughts. The scientific health community has known that red wine has a protective effect against cardiovascular disease and has currently found that it may by related to a high content of reseveratrol.

Reseveratrol is a chemical found in wine grape skins and is a form of estrogen called phytoestrogen, a hormone known to protect against heart disease. A group of scientists at Northwestern ran tests that found reseveratrol could activate genes normally regulated by estrogen, according to an article in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (1997;94;14138-14143).

In nature, reseveratrol's function and purpose is to protect grapes and some other plants against fungal infections. In humans, it has shown to have health benefits, such as, antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. Researchers caution that it is not yet known if the body absorbs enough reseveratrol from wine to make these benefits plausible. However, researchers also discovered that reseveratrol had a greater effect on estrogen-related genes than extradiol, the leading synthetic estrogen, although at higher doses.

Dr. Barry Gehm, a reseveratrol researcher at Northwestern University, in Chicago, IL, reports that red wine appears to be more estrogenic than bourbon or beer, which do not contain reseveratrol but contain phytoestrogens. He also stated that the estrogenic actions of reseveratrol broaden the spectrum of its biological actions and may be relevant to the reported cardiovascular benefits of drinking wine. Gehm's research team believes that further characterization of this compound could lead to the development of therapeutic agents which is excellent news.

Bev Brock-Alexander