Time and again, you read news reports such as ‘Red wine may ward off wrinkles’, and ‘Grape juice protects heart’.

Scientists have concluded that red wine could help slow the ageing process. Melatonin, a substance found in grape skins, can protect cells from age-related damage. Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone, and plays a key role in the body clock and is used by some frequent travellers to try to counteract jet leg.

But the findings are based on trials on mice, and human beings are not mice. But the good news is that I can remain with my vow as the source of Melatonnin can be some food items that I already take.

“Melatonin is also found in foods such as onions, bananas, rice and cherries. A study by scientists in Spain suggests that taking a daily supplement of melatonin from the age of 30 or 40 could delay ageing.”

But then why do the scientists recommend before taking care of the side effects? Can’t it be the producers lobbies that might be pushing the scientists to do that?

But I am happy with the second similar finding that have come from the French scientists instead of Spanish in the first case. Researchers at the Universite Louis Pasteur de Strasbourg were examining the effect on the heart of Concord grape juice.

“Grape juice can have a similar effect (against heart disease) as red wine but without the alcohol. That is a very important message,” said Dr Valerie Schini-Kerth, lead author of the study published in the journal Cardiovascular Research. Red wine and certain types of grape juice have high levels of polyphenols, which block the production of a protein linked to cardiovascular disease – the number one killer in many Western countries. REUTERS.

Is it not alluringly prompting to go back on the vows after these researches for one who has only given up the wine for a moral reason or medical advice?