All those who are consciously watching their weight can now raise a toast to a group of French researchers who have revealed that an extract found in red wine helps mice lose weight and gain more stamina.
The substance called resveratrol that is found in red wine works by enhancing the production of mitochondria. Thus it increases metabolism rates.
The study, led by Johan Auwerx from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology in Illkirch, France, involved providing a high-fat diet to mice for three weeks. Of these mice, half were also given daily doses of up to 400 milligrams of resveratrol per kilogram of body weight.
At the end of the three weeks, it was assessed that those mice who took the resveratrol supplementation weighed only 20% more than those on a regular diet. Conversely, those who took the high fat diet but not the resveratrol weighed 60% more than the standard diet mice.
On the criteria of physical stamina and endurance, those whose diet included resveratrol could run twice the distance on a treadmill – even after taking in to consideration the weight differences of both groups.
Resveratrol is believed to stimulate the production of mitochondria, which in turn, burns more fat to produce energy. Added, Auwerx explains that an increase in mitochondria activity boosts tissue function, particularly of the skeletal muscles; leading to greater endurance. Also fat accumulation is prevented, triggering off related possible effects such as defending against obesity and Type II diabetes.
For those however, who desire to use this as an excuse to sip on that extra glass of wine, note that a human being would need to drink about a 100 glasses daily for the required amount of resveratrol extract.