New research suggests that a compound found in red wine helps with depression and anxiety, which sounds like good news, right? But you should read this with a caveat: if you suffer from any of the two or both, in no way you should you overdo it with the drink. Cause that compound might help, but alcohol surely doesn’t.
The research was conducted by scientists from the University of Buffalo and China’s Xuzhou Medical University. They decided to look further into the properties of a compound named resveratrol, found in red wine and also grapes. They experimented on mice and they discovered some interesting things. Resveratrol has an interesting interaction with phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), an enzyme influenced by the stress hormone corticosterone. That’s why it’s quite possible that this compound found in red wine helps with depression and anxiety. Thanks to its fighting the stress hormone, resveratrol can help you fight conditions of extreme stress.
Red wine helps with depression: true or false?
It’s… false! Because it’s not the red wine that helps with depression and anxiety, it’s all about this compound as far as the scientists can tell.
“Resveratrol may be an effective alternative to drugs for treating patients suffering from depression and anxiety disorders,” says Ying Xu, MD, PhD, co-lead author and research associate professor in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
According to figures from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, depression and anxiety disorders affect 16 and 40 million people respectively in the United States.
Scientists hope that resveratrol might be used to create a new class of antidepressant medicine. The other classes work by controlling serotonin or noradrenaline function in the brain, but only a third of those treated actually end up being in full remission from depression.
We already knew about some of the healthy properties of resveratrol, among them obesity-busting, helping to fight aging, anti-cavity effects and also the prevention of muscle loss.
