Shelley has already explained the recent study about the life-span increasing properties of Resveratrol, a compound found in wine.
Article in NYT tries to make a quick calculation (apparently erroneous) as of how much wine a person would have to drink in order to receive the same dose as the lab mice got in this study - "from 1,500 to 3,000 bottles of red wine a day"!
Perhaps the dose would be smaller if you could stand drinking the super-sweet Scuppernong (from muscadine grape - Vitis Rotundifolia) wine from Duplin Winery here in Rose Hill, North Carolina. As horribly sweet as it is, I actually like it. It comes in a couple of different versions, plus I heard that they also make and pack raisins (which are supposed to have an even higher concentration of Resveratrol).
There has been some research on the health effects of Resveratrol in muscadine wines locally, e.g.,. here, here and here (pdf). Duplin wines can be found in every store around here, but I wonder how easy it is to find them around the country? Have you tried them? Did you like them? Do you think you could drink a thousand bottles of it every day?
Addendum: Abel has more on the research.
Don't think of them as wines. Think of them as grape juice and enjoy.
So, now I have the choice of either starving myself or drinking sickly sweet brews. Hmmm, maybe I'll just stick with my current diet of Weaver St. coffee and cookies.
A cookie-less life is a life not worth living!
go easy on the sugar, Bora: gradual but unavoidable glycosylation of long-lived protiens is an aging effect.
But, but....I am not going to just throw away all this Halloween candy! Yum!
Quality of life is more important than length - do what you enjoy.
My Grandparents used to grown Scuppernongs right outside of Raleigh.
I'll stick to california grown Cabernets, Oregon Pinot Noirs and Argintinian Malbecs (among about 40 others). The Scuppernongs are REALLY sweet.
Argentinian Malbec is my favourite. I also like French Burgundy and California Riesling.
Once again my masterful typing skills
Argentinian
I think I'll just start sneaking into the fields of the Mission Hill winery for the occasional handful of grapes off the vine. It's easy to see on top of the hill a couple of kilometers from my house.