Alcohol
Does red wine have any special heart benefits because of resveratrol?
No. The resveratrol-cardioprotection narrative was built on in-vitro (cell culture) and animal studies showing that resveratrol activates sirtuin pathways involved in cellular longevity. The dose of resveratrol required to achieve these effects in animal models was never achievable through wine consumption, you would need to drink hundreds of liters of wine per day to approximate the resveratrol dose used in mouse studies. The specific claim that the polyphenols in red wine explain the apparent cardiovascular benefit of moderate drinking collapsed in two stages: first, the Mendelian randomization studies removed the apparent cardiovascular benefit from the equation, leaving nothing for resveratrol to explain; second, David Sinclair's broader sirtuin-resveratrol research program at Harvard came under investigation for potential data reliability concerns, further weakening the mechanistic case. (NMN.com reporting on Sinclair, https://www.nmn.com/news/disgraced-david-sinclair-resigns-from-top-aging-academy)
Cardiologist's calibrated position, Unsupported (5) for resveratrol in red wine as a meaningful cardiovascular intervention at any realistic consumption level.
What to do: If you are drinking red wine specifically because you believe it is cardioprotective, that rationale does not hold. If you are drinking it because you enjoy it and have assessed your individual risk accordingly, that is a different and legitimate choice.
For the full picture, read The Bourbon Collector's Honest Reckoning.
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