Compound in red wine may offer potential treatment for heart disease

Drinking red wine in moderation has long been considered a healthy supplement. However, it has yet to be scientifically proven that an exact dose of red wine can help prevent the onset of certain diseases. In the meantime, a major conference to discuss the benefits of the compound found in red wine, resveratrol, will bring together researchers and experts from around the world.

Resveratrol 2012
Resveratrol 2012, the second international conference of its kind, will take place at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom on December 5. Spanning three days, the conference will feature new findings that have been developed over the last two years of study, advancing the ideas that the chemical might be able to prevent certain kinds of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

"At the University of Leicester, we want to see how resveratrol might work to prevent cancer in humans," said Karen Brown, PhD, professor and member of the University of Leicester's Cancer and Biomarkers and Prevention Group. "Having shown in our lab experiments that it can reduce tumor development we are now concentrating on identifying the mechanisms of how resveratrol works in human cells."

A useful antioxidant?
According to the Mayo Clinic, resveratrol is considered to be an antioxidant that can help protect the lining of the blood vessels in the heart, but so far most of the benefits and research have been attributed to animals. It is not yet known if the compound can be a safe and effective supplement to reduce the risk of heart disease or other conditions for those who buy Lipitor or similar treatments from an online pharmacy.

Over the course of 65 lectures and presentations, researchers hope to answer how resveratrol can be used as a treatment, as its effect in human clinical trials has only been tested during the past few years.

Study findings by researchers at the university suggest that two glasses of red wine a day - considered an equivalent to the level of resveratrol necessary to be beneficial - goes beyond heart health and can reduce the rate of growth for bowel tumors. However, researchers urge that their findings are still in the preliminary stages at the moment, lacking any definitive results in their clinical trials.

"A lot of people take resveratrol as a supplement, but at the moment we don't know how it works or on whom it can work until we have more information. With all the exciting new studies that are being done - especially the clinical trials - I hope we'll have a clearer picture in the next few years."