Red wine health benefits, a myth

Researchers have long been curious as to why the French have such low rates of heart disease in spite of their fatty diet and wine-loving behavior.

The current belief was that drinking red wine somehow helped the French reduce heart disease problems. Particularly, resveratrol, a chemical found in red wine and chocolate, presumably had the praised role of keeping heart-related issues at a distance.

However, after tracking 800 Italian villagers over the course of nine years, researchers found out that the mentioned chemical made absolutely no difference in the risk of dying from a heart disease or contracting cancer.

The leader of the researchers team said that: 'The thinking was that certain foods are good for you because they contain resveratrol. We didn't find that at all.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.'

Resveratrol had been linked to longevity and reduced levels of disease but only when consumed in greater quantities than those found in people's regular diets.