The health benefits said to accrue from the moderate consumption of red wine are well-known—lowering cholesterol, helping prevent clogged arteries, controlling blood sugar, even fighting off the common cold.
Now California scientists think they’ve found one more benefit, one that can heal the outer you as well as the inner. A glass or two of red wine can help kill the bacteria that cause acne, the scourge of teenagers everywhere. Actually, it’s the antioxidant resveratrol, the same compound determined to be responsible for most of red wine’s other health benefits.
Resveratrol works by stopping formation of free radicals, atoms or groups of atoms known to cause cellular damage, of which acne is one. Interestingly enough, when paired with the oxidant benzoyl peroxide, the two seemingly at-odds compounds (as benzoyl peroxide creates free radicals) work even better to kill acne-causing bacteria and control its formation. Or at least so say researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Does this mean local liquor stores and wine shops will be overrun with pimple-pocked teenyboppers whipping out fake IDs to get an amusing little Cabernet to help erase the angry red moonscape on their faces?
Probably not. But you never know. One day we may see pimple cream manufacturers getting into the wine business.