A group of local scientists has found evidence from tests on mice that a substance in red wine may combat diabetes.

Their findings were published in October's edition of Cell Metabolism - a United States-based scientific journal of biological sciences.

Researchers from the Institute for Nutritional Sciences, an arm of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, found that resveratrol, an antioxidant in red wine, may counteract insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Insulin resistance is a condition that the body becomes less sensitive to insulin - a hormone which controls blood sugar - and may lead to type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes usually occurs to people over 40 years old and is often detected by elevated glucose levels instead of illness.

"The finding has implications toward resolving insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes," the paper revealed.

However, scientists didn't recommend relying on red wine to get rid of the disease.

Zhai Qiwei, a leading scientist of the project, said:"People might need to drink about three liters of red wine each day to get sufficient resveratrol for its biological effects."

He indicated the potential of using resveratrol to make certain types of tonics or drugs for diabetes prevention.

From the tests, scientists found insulin-resistant mice became more sensitive to insulin when given resveratrol.

They also made further discovery that resveratrol spurs a gene called SIRT1 to become more active, increasing insulin sensitivity.

It's not known how long the new resveratrol drugs can be developed and mass-produced to benefit the public.

So far, the medical effects of red wine against diabetes have already been discovered and studied by global scientists.

In the December 1999 issue of Diabetes Care, scientists presented data showing that consumption of two glasses of red wine with a meal could reduce the possibility of getting type 2 diabetes.

(Source: www.shanghai.gov.cn )