It’s the dream, isn’t it? Keeping fit with a diet of chocolate and wine. Imagine if it was a reality though. Well, the good news is that real life might not be that far off! A substance in red wine and dark chocolate is being shown to potentially have anti-aging effects!

Senescence

Cellular senescence is a process in which cells stop dividing. Because of that, those cells are basically unable to perform their usual, expected duties. As you know, every day our cells divide and multiply. If this happens too much, we have a cancer, but if this doesn’t happen enough, we’re aging. A team led by Professor Lorna Harries, Professor of Molecular Genetics at the University of Exeter, has discovered a new way to rejuvenate inactive senescent cells. (1, 2)

Resveratrol Analogues

Researchers added a chemical called resveratrol analogues. These are chemicals based on a substance naturally found in red wine, dark chocolate, red grapes, and blueberries. Within hours, the cells looked younger and started to rejuvenate, behaving like young cells and dividing. Professor Harries said:  “This is a first step in trying to make people live normal lifespans, but with health for their entire life. Our data suggests that using chemicals to switch back on the major class of genes that are switched off as we age might provide a means to restore function to old cells.” (1, 2)

Magical Anti-Aging? Not Yet

Dr. Eva Latorre, Research Associate at the University of Exeter who carried out the experiments, was astonished by the results she saw. “When I saw some of the cells in the culture dish rejuvenating I couldn’t believe it. These old cells were looking like young cells. It was like magic,” she said. “I repeated the experiments several times and in each case, the cells rejuvenated. I am very excited by the implications and potential for this research.” (1, 2)

Antioxidants

If you’re like me and can’t get the taste for red wine, don’t panic. To go with your chocolate, you can also have white wine. White wines contain phenols that have health benefits, including protection against cardiovascular diseases and anticarcinogenic effects. White wines are jammed full of antioxidants in comparable, or higher amounts, than their red wine counterparts. These antioxidants are super important in the fight against free radicals. (3)

Fertility

Resveratrol is a naturally occurring chemical found in high concentrations in red wine. This chemical is known to have anti-inflammatory effects. Research has demonstrated that women who regularly drink a glass of red wine each week are more fertile than those who don’t. Probably fortunately for our collective livers, the research only showed benefits for moderate amounts of drinking. So, this isn’t an excuse to go on a bender, but rather to enjoy a glass every now and again. (4)

Chocolate and Blood Pressure

Cocoa is rich in flavanols, a plant chemical, which may help to protect the heart. Dark chocolate contains up to 2-3 times more flavanol-rich cocoa solids than milk chocolate. Flavanols have been shown to support the production of nitric oxide in the inner cell lining of blood vessels. This helps to relax the blood vessels and improve blood flow, thereby lowering blood pressure. (5, 6)

Now, the science hasn’t actually confirmed that eating dark chocolate and drinking red wine will help prevent aging. At least, not yet. But seeing as they have a whole host of benefits, it can’t hurt to indulge every now and then. I know I’m definitely going to add some dark chocolate to my shopping list.

We need more Studies

Although the evidence suggests that there are a lot of great health benefits to both chocolate and red wine, more data is needed to draw conclusions about the anti-aging effects of chocolate and wine.