London - If you want to avoid gaining weight, it may be time to ditch the skipping rope and grab a corkscrew instead.
For United States experts have found a compound in red wine that can help control obesity.
The substance, piceatannol, delays the generation of young fat cells and prevents them from growing into mature ones.
It is also thought to protect the body from heart and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as cancer.
Lead researcher Dr Kee-Hong Kim of Purdue University, in Indiana, said: ‘In the presence of piceatannol you can see delay or complete inhibition of young fat cells. Piceatannol alters the timing of gene expressions, gene functions and insulin action during adipogenesis – the process in which young fat cells become mature fat cells.
Dr Kim, assistant professor of food science at the university, added: ‘We are now testing our idea using animal model obesity to see if it has the same benefical functions.
‘We need to work on improving the stability and solubility of piceatannol to create a biological effect.’
Purdue’s research was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. - Daily Mail