Red Wine: Drink Up for Better Eyesight?

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Think that glass of wine each night is bad for you? A recent study is showing just the opposite may be true.

Current research being conducted by Dr. Rajendra S. Apte of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, suggests that resveratrol -- a natural compound found in red wine, grapes, blueberries and peanuts -- hinders the new blood vessel growth of pathogens.

Even better, resveratrol, through proteins known as sirtuin family proteins, has been shown to reduce effects of aging and act as an anti-cancer agent. A process called angiogenesis, better known as new blood vessel formation, is a major component in the formation of cancer and eye diseases.

Dr. Rajendra and fellow researchers evaluated the consequences of resveratrol treatment on blood vessel growth in the eye. Researchers found they could actually reverse the angiogenesis-blocking effect with certain inhibitors.

"The findings of this study might have a significant impact on our understanding of angioproliferative diseases that are characterized by abnormal angiogenesis both within and outside the eye," Khan et al said.

"Abnormal vascular proliferation in the eye leads to severe visual impairment in several blinding disorders of the eye including age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy," Dr. Apte was quoted as saying. "This study proves that red wine, and its component, resveratrol, directly hampers development of abnormal blood vessels inside and outside the eye."

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Source: The American Journal of Pathology, July 2010