Red wine's hoped-for healthy ingredient fails a test

Resveratrol is one of the potentially health-promoting substances abundant in red wine, dark chocolate, grapes, and some berries and roots. But in the amounts a person might imbibe in their usual diet, resveratrol appears to have no association with better health and longer life, according to a study in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers took a sample of urine from 783 people ages 65 and older living in two villages in the wine-making region of Chianti, Italy. The amount of metabolized resveratrol in the urine was measured to find out how much of the stuff people had in their systems.