More good reasons to drink a lot more red wine

This just in! According to a report in today's New York Times, researchers are finding that red wine may slow the aging process.

The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, which is an ingredient found in some red wines (Merlot! Say it's found in merlot!). Of course, scientists dosed mice the equivalent of 35 bottles of wine...which, if translated to human use means you'd stay young but die of liver poisoning.

But the study has helped identify that some natural compounds, such as resveratrol, can trigger an ancient survival method employed by our bodies to keep us alive in times of famine. Simply put, in times of extreme nutritive deprivation, our bodies go from fertility mode to tissue maintenance mode. Improved tissue maintenance seems to cut down on the degenerative diseases associated with aging.

Any pharmaceutical company that can tap whatever triggers this ancient famine defense of ours is in for anything but lean times. Talk about a big, fat payday.

True, the proverbial "Fountain of youth" may still be years away. But for now, the report just adds food for thought to the argument that red wine is good for you.

And we can all drink to that!