Red wine isn’t usually associated with being steady on your feet.
But a ‘miracle ingredient’ in it could have that effect on pensioners, scientists claim.
They
say that resveratrol, which is already credited with a host of health
benefits from cutting cholesterol to warding off cancer, boosts balance
and improves mobility. In tests, old mice that were given the plant chemical for a few weeks became just as sprightly as young animals. If
resveratrol has similar effects on the human body, it could help
prevent the painful falls and fractures from which many pensioners
struggle to recover.
Falls are one of the leading causes of death in the over-75s, and half of elderly women die within two years of a fall. The
US researchers said: ‘Our study suggests that a natural compound like
resveratrol, which can be obtained through dietary supplementation or
diet itself, could actually decrease some of the motor deficiencies that
are seen in our ageing population. That
would therefore increase an ageing person’s quality of life and
decrease their risk of hospitalisation due to slips and falls.’ The
researchers, from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, fed resveratrol to
young and old mice for eight weeks and regularly tested their ability to
walk along a rodent-sized beam.
Source - Daily Mail
