Researchers from Virginia Tech, Raoanoke College and the National Institute on Ageing in the USA believe a low carbohydrate diet and resveratrol, a compound found in red grape skins and red wine, each has an anti-ageing effect on the body.
Using mice, they employed four variations in diet – a normal diet, one with restricted carbs and calories, one with added resveratrol and a fourth with added metformin. Metformin is the diabetes drug that cuts blood sugar.
They found that in mice on the low carb and resveratrol-rich diets, the muscle synapses at two years were equivalent to those in mice on the ordinary diet aged just three months. Researchers studied the neuromuscular joint in the leg muscles to come to this anti-ageing conclusion.
Researchers also used the same diets on cells in vitro to check a direct effect. The mice fed on the resveratrol-rich and low calorie diets showed less muscle fragmentation and less nerve cell degeneration.
Chris Woollams, former Oxford University Biochemist added, “Lowered calories from carbs, plus the bioactive compound of red wine – this is the Rainbow Diet!! However, people need to be cautious because this work was only done with mice and, although their biochemistry is close to that of humans, it is not identical. However, it does suggest there might be benefits in regulating your calories and especially carbs while eating more grapes; even drinking red wine. This is just another study confirming the potency of the Rainbow Diet.”