« Testing the Auction Waters With Latour, Cheval Blanc | Main | Texas Judge Says Granholm Applies to Retailers Direct Shipping »
January 15, 2008
Boost Your Lifespan With Super-Wine
Would you drink wine made from genetically engineered grapes if it had extra benefits? Such wine could be on the menu, thanks to a grape variety six times richer than normal in resveratrol, the compound in red wine associated with increased longevity, decreased heart disease and a host of other benefits.
Chinese scientists have produced a grapevine six times richer in resveratrol – the compound in red wine associated with health benefits
Yuejin Wang and colleagues at the Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University in Yangling, Shaanxi province, China, made the supervine by equipping it with an extra gene from a wild Chinese vine. Vitus pseudoreticulata has an unusual variant of the stilbene synthase gene, which triggers resveratrol production (Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture, DOI: 10.1007/s11240-007-9324-2).
The team plans to make wine from the GM vine, though their main goal is to make grapevines more resistant to fungus, which is kept in check by resveratrol.
Must Read: Quackwatch on resveratrol
Source: “Super-wine might boost lifespan,” From issue 2637 of New Scientist magazine, 07 January 2008, page 12
Posted by fortna at January 15, 2008 12:00 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.avenuevine.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/3557