Mice and Wine Study

The recent study finding that mice exposed to resveratrol, a substance in wine, does not necessarily suggest that humans should change alcohol consumption patterns

Earlier in the week, one widely-publicized story that dealt with health issues was the study, which demonstrated that mice on a high fat diet that were given high doses of resveratrol, a substance found in red wine, lived longer and were healthier than their counterparts on the high fat diet that did not receive the resveratrol.

Because there is a problem with the health effects of obesity in most of the developed countries, these scientific results clearly suggest promising lines of research. However, at this stage, this study does not seem to advance any *new* (or ethically compelling) arguments in favor of radical change in alcohol consumption levels on the part of the individual. After all, many previous studies had already established the beneficial health effects of wine consumption in moderation and, as commentators on the study noted, the quantity of wine that a human would have to consume to get the same dose of resveratrol as the mice would be several hundred bottles per day!

In other words, while this study does offer promising scientific leads, it actually reinforces a point that is often made with regard to chronic health conditions brought on, in part, by behavioral choices such as diet and exercise that lead to obesity—namely, the resulting health threats can be reduced more by changing the multiple underlying behaviors (that is, the factors that led to obesity) than by a single change in one specific behavior such as alcohol consumption.