Moms Rejoice: Red Wine Will Add Years to Your Life

Who knew there were so many red wine benefits? If you find yourself reaching for a bottle of pinot after your kids finally go to sleep, prepare to break into your happy dance. According to Nobel Prize winning cell biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, red wine and grapes—along with turmeric and pomegranate seeds—have landed on top of the list of natural treatments that aid in the autophaging process.

Autophaging is the process through which cells break down, recycle, and dispose of waste.  Think of it as a way of collecting all of the junk cells produce and transporting it to the garbage where the contents can be broken down properly.

“It is very important to degrade toxic waste for the survival of the cell, and a cell without autophagy cannot survive,” Professor Katja Simon of the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in Oxford tells The Guardian. “Autophagy levels fall in the ageing process. The characteristics of old age, such as wrinkles, hearing loss or cancer, are actually due to falling autophagy levels and the accumulation of toxic wastes in the cells.”

Drinking red wine, snacking on grapes and pomegranate seeds and working turmeric into your diet can boost the autophaging process, though not completely. The above four foods—pomegranates, turmeric, red grapes and red wine—all look promising, according to Ioannis Nezis, an associate professor at the University of Warwick, but you would need large amounts to achieve the required effect. Instead, supplements containing distilled concentrates of the active molecules may be a better, more palatable option.

How often do you nosh on these four life-boosting foods? Tell us below!

If this finding blows your mind, read this revelation about the childhood 5-Second Rule.

Opening Image: Oddur Thorisson for Conde Nast Traveler