Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9304010271
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JAMES SCHULTZ LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
`IN WINE THERE IS TRUTH'; STUDY TRIES TO FIND IT
For wine lovers, the pleasures of the grape are many. But the passions of wine fanciers could soon be shared by the rest of us.According to preliminary results from research under way at Old Dominion University, the ingredients in wine could slow aging, fight cancer and prevent the AIDS virus from multiplying.
"Let's face it: You drink a Coke or Sprite and you're not getting anything," said Roy L. Williams, ODU professor of chemistry and biochemistry. "Wine's a much healthier drink than milk - assuming you remove the alcohol."
The reason for Williams' enthusiasm has to do with a class of chemical compounds found in grape seeds. The substances occur naturally in a variety of plants. They also are found in small concentrations in beer and tea.
The compounds inhibit or prevent the action of free radicals, unstable atoms or molecules that attack living human cells.
"Free radicals can really be destructive to cells," Williams said. "These little guys are the real cause of aging. They're eating us alive on the inside."
One of Williams' colleagues, ODU faculty member Mark S. Elliott, has applied components derived from grape seeds to human cell cultures. The cultures have survived much longer than normal.
The implication is that some good-guy substance is preventing free radicals from coming in and doing their bad business.
It's like "a policeman in the cells," Williams said. "It wouldn't turn back the clock, but the cell would be protected so it would live longer."
Other ODU researchers are just beginning research on the apparent HIV-virus-fighting and anti-cancer properties of grape-seed components.
In the aftermath of a 1991 "60 Minutes" television broadcast, the beneficial effects of wine have come to be known as the French Paradox.
It has long been known in France that residents of that country's red-wine producing regions - where consumption of great quantities of alcohol-laden wine are common - are much healthier than otherwise would be expected. White wine has much lower concentrations of the protective components.
In particular, death rates from heart attacks are abnormally low. The French have even produced a pill from grape-seed compounds that is said to lessen the risk of cardiovascular disease.
But there is no such drug in this country. Williams says there's a long way to go before there is any practical application of the ODU research. Nor is there any prospect for human testing soon. "We're certainly not injecting people" with any experimental substance, Williams said.
The Virginia Agricultural Council and the Virginia Wine Advisory Board have funneled about $11,000 to Williams to do the wine work. He says he needs much more.
"What we really need is half a million dollars to catch up with the research in Portugal and France," Williams said.