Wine Compound Found To Extend Life, Decrease Appetite (In Bees)

Everyone freak out and grab a bottle of red wine: Again, that magical compound resveratrol has been found to extend the life... of bees.

The study, published in the journal Aging, tested resveratrol to determine how it affects life span, brain function, and food perception. What the researchers found: the bees had an increased life span by 38 percent.

What's more fascinating, though, is how the resveratrol affected the bees' appetites. When given a dose of resveratrol and then as much sugar water as they wanted (which, you know, bees love), the bees didn't consume as much. "Bees typically gorge on sugar, and while it's the best thing for them, we know that eating too much is not necessarily a good thing," said researcher Gro Amdam in a statement. "... The bees were allowed to eat as much as they pleased and were certainly not starving — they simply would not gorge on the food that we know they like. It's possible resveratrol may be working by some mechanism that is related to caloric restriction — a dietary regimen long known to extend life span in diverse organisms."

Some say that caloric restriction has been shown to expand life span, but resveratrol has other properties that could be the anti-aging secret. Because of its antioxidant properties, resveratrol may protect against attacks on the nervous system and oxidative stress. And of course, this was a study on bees, but hey — we'll take any excuse to have a drink.