Glass of wine a day keeps opticians away

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

National

Wed, September 27, 2023 | 15:30

Glass of wine a day keeps opticians away

Posted : 2010-06-27 19:35

Updated : 2010-06-27 19:35

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff reporter

Drinking a glass of red wine at the end of the day has already been proven to be effective in preventing heart disease and other health problems to some extent.

There is more good news for red wine drinkers. Recently, a U.S. research team has verified that drinking red wine may produce greater health benefits than previously thought. It can also help prevents blindness to a certain degree.

Resveratrol found in red wine controls the blood vessel growth in the eyes, a process called angiogenesis, one of the main causes of blindness, they said. This is expected to be some great news to those over 50 years old, who are more frequently diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.

Professor Rajendra Apte of Washington University observed the effects of resveratrol on mice suffering from angiogenesis.

The mice received laser treatment to cause abnormal blood vessel growth in their eyes. After being injected with resveratrol, the vessels started to disappear.

Apte and his colleagues studied the blood vessel cells and found the particular pathway that caused the compound's beneficial effects_ the eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF2) regulated pathway.

"We have identified a novel pathway that could become a new target for therapies. And we believe the pathway may be involved both in age-related eye diseases and in other diseases where angiogenesis plays a destructive role. This could potentially be a preventive therapy in high-risk patients,’’ he was quoted as saying in the American Journal of Pathology.

``And because it worked on existing, abnormal blood vessels in the animals, it may be a therapy that can be started after angiogenesis has started to cause damage.” These results can indeed be applied to humans, and not just to the eyes. Since angiogenesis is a wide-ranging health risk, finding a way to prevent it in one instance could help in other areas, potentially helping to prevent the onset of heart disease and certain cancers, he said.

Resveratrol is found in red wine as well as grapes, peanuts, blueberries, and other plants. There is a wide belief that the substance is an anti-aging material.

The findings were published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Pathology.

매일 와인 한잔 하면 안과 필요 없어

적포도주 한잔씩 매일 마시면 어느 정도 심장병과 그 밖의 건강문제를 막는데 효과가 있다는 것은 이미 증명이 됐다.

적포도주를 마시는 사람들에게 솔깃한 뉴스가 하나 더 있다. 최근 미국 한 연구진은 적포도주는 이전에 생각했던 것 보다 건강상 이점이 더 많다는 것을 증명해 주었다.

레스베라트롤은 적포도주가 소경의 주원인 중 하나인 눈의 혈관 성장을 억제하는 것을 알아냈다고 연구진은 밝혔다. 이는 50세 이상 된 사람들로 당뇨병성 망막증과 노화에 따른 시력 감퇴의 진단을 자주 받는 사람들에게는 꽤 좋은 뉴스가 될 듯하다.

워싱턴대 라헨드라 압테 교수는 혈관발생을 겪고 있는 쥐에 대한 레스베라트롤 효과를 관찰했다

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr