It’s a well-known fact that drinking a glass of red wine for dinner has benefits for your health. Started as a pop-culture myth, it was soon confirmed by doctors. Cardiologists, mainly, advise people to consume moderate quantities of red wine to prevent a number of heart diseases from developing.

Recently, more studies have been conducting, targeting red wine, its benefits and detriments. Red wine was given to laboratory mice, and it seems that the health and lifespan of the little critters had significantly improved. After analyzing several compounds of said red wine, scientists came to the conclusion that resveratrol, one of the wine’s smallest ingredients, is the one responsible for the help. All clues pointed to the fact that resveratrol is “guilty” for activating sirtuin, the protein that restores chromosomes to health. The reason why the health of the chromosomes is so important is that aging compromises the integrity of the chromosomes. By restoring the chromosomes, aging is delayed.

Doctors and scientists are dedicating increasingly more time and effort to studying sirtuin and the benefits it had. Recently, they have been working on chemicals that have a similar effect on the protein, but in smaller doses than resveratrol. One such chemical has so far managed to prevent mice put on fatty diets from developing obesity and has helped them raise their physical endurance.

The ultimate goal that scientists, researchers and doctors hope to achieve is to develop a drug that can raise resistance to disease and even slow down what has so far been considered the inevitable process of aging.