Red Wine Could Be Good for Your Lungs
Excerpt by Alexandra Hudson, Reuters Health

Red wine, already thought to be good for your heart, may be good for your lungs too, doctors say.

A compound found naturally in red wine could help fight chronic bronchitis and emphysema, a study has found, although scientists say there is probably not enough of the stuff in a glass for chronic sufferers to drink their way to good health.

The study found that the substance, resveratrol, which is found in the skin of red grapes, could reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in the lungs that cause the diseases.

The illnesses, known together as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kill an estimated 2.9 million people a year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. And smokers are 10 times as likely as non-smokers to die of COPD.

"It seems that drinking red wine in moderation as part of a healthy, balanced diet can reduce lung inflammation," Dr John Harvey, chairman of the Communications Committee of the British Thoracic Society, said.

Resveratrol is already thought to be one of the reasons why people in wine-drinking countries such as France have low rates of heart disease, Dr Louise Donnelly, one of the report's authors, told Reuters.

Her team wanted to test whether those benefits could extend to lung disease as well. The research was published in the international medical journal Thorax on Tuesday.

In the study, lung fluid samples were taken from 15 smokers and 15 COPD patients. When resveratrol was added to the samples, it cut production of interleukin 8, a chemical that causes inflammation of the lungs.

Production of the chemical was cut by 94 percent in smokers and by 88 percent in COPD patients.

COPD is now commonly treated with steroids, but resveratrol might prove more effective, Donnelly said. It would not reverse the damage which has occurred to the lungs, but could help stop it from getting any worse, she said.

Although there is probably not enough resveratrol in a wine glass for casual drinking to stop chronic lung disease, the substance could be administered directly with an inhaler, she said.

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