So lately I’ve been infatuated with the whole idea of wine’s health benefits. It just seems so righteous. Wine is consumed by all nationalities, ethnicities, races, and religions and has been around since the roots of civilization. It’s not surprising that it gives us a little more than a buzz.

In the Fortune article pictured left, it was discussed that wine, more specifically red wine, can slow down the aging process. It highlights Sirtris, a pharmaceutical company based out of Cambridge, that is working to synthesize the magical component in red wine known as Resveratrol, and hopes to deliver it in an anti-aging pill one day.

The process all starts right at the core of our life force… the energy producing components of our cells known as mitochondria, which convert sugars into energy and power the human body. Just like a coal plant produces energy and pollutes greenhouse gases that harm our planet, mitochondria also pollute in the form of free radicals that cause damage to our cells and our bodies. More so, these free radicals harm other mitochondria, causing them to become more inefficient and give off more free radicals, thus sparking the cell-degrading snowball effect that is thought to be the major cause of aging.

Wine may have an answer, however. We now know that wine has not one, but two ways to combat free radicals. First, it has antioxidants, which most people are familiar with. Antioxidants are found in green tea and orange juice and serve to soak up the free radicals produced in the body, thus eliminating their harmful impact. Secondly, and more importantly, red wine possesses this Resveratrol compound, which activates an enzyme that creates new and increasingly efficient mitochondria. To put this in perspective: Antioxidants will just make you feel better, whereas new efficient mitochondria can lead to weight loss, increased endurance, and even disease prevention, including cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimers!

Could wine become the human elixir?… More on this later

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