Red Wine study - destroy bacteria that causes lung infections | Wine Online
More red wine fun? Indeed. Red wine studies to the rescue! Obviously check with your health professionals before consuming and ensure that you are the age of majority!
UNIVERSITY STUDY
Chi-town! Summer time CHI!
BACTERIA BE GONE
What did they say?
Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago report that both red wine and resveratrol may be effective killers of a bacteria known to cause lung infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis and even contribute to heart disease.
BACK IN 03 AND WITHSTANDING THE TEST OF TIME
The study was published in the December 2003 issue of the medical journal Atherosclerosis.
The airborne bacteria, called Chlamydia pneumoniae, is responsible for 5 percent to 30 percent of respiratory-tract infections worldwide, according to studies cited in the research.
YES, IT IS ALL INTERCONNECTED
In addition, a growing body of evidence shows that the bacteria may spread from the lungs into the bloodstream, possibly leading to plaque buildup in the arteries and thereby contributing to heart disease.
REDUCING THE HEART ISSUES
Study author Gail Mahady, of the university's College of Pharmacy, and her team sought to expand upon prior research that indicates that red wine or resveratrol -- one of the many polyphenols in red wine -- may reduce the risk of heart disease and other diseases. They wanted to look at how wine compounds may act in the body to produce these beneficial effects.
HOW THE RESEARCH WENT
The researchers prepared samples of calf cells and infected them with C. pneumoniae. By subjecting the samples to a gas with 5 percent carbon dioxide, at temperatures of 95 degrees F, the scientists were able to re-create conditions similar to those inside human lungs.
POST-INCUBATION
After an incubation period, the cell samples were exposed for 72 hours to either California Pinot Noir, pure resveratrol developed in a lab, or azithromycin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat lung infections. The scientists repeated this experiment several times using varying concentrations of the different solutions.
Both the red wine and the resveratrol were as effective at destroying C. pneumoniae as the antibiotic, according to the study.
HOW MUCH?
Who knows at this stage but let's say moderate.
However, the report did not supply details about how much red wine or resveratrol was needed to destroy the bacteria.
LUNGS AND THE HEART
"In vitro, the [Pinot Noir] extracts and resveratrol kill the bacteria," said Mahady, who suggested that this may help prevent not only lung infections, but heart disease by eliminating C. pneumoniae from the bloodstream. But she added, "How this plays out in someone with heart disease already, we do not know at this point."