It is good news for those of us suffering from a one-glass-too-many-red-wine-on-Christmas headache this morning.
While we spent our Christmas stuffing our faces with as much cheese, turkey and red wine as we could get our hands on, we may have been benefitting our skin.
There are a myriad of perks when it comes to red wine, like it has the same effect as a gym workout, yet researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles have said red wine can also help cure acne.
They found the antioxidant resveratrol, which is present in grapes, wine and berries, helps to cure acne when combined with traditional acne treatment benzoyl peroxide.
The study, published as Resveratrol Demonstrates Antimicrobial Effects Against Propionibacterium acnes In Vitro, said acne affects 85% of adolescents and 10% of adults.
UCLA scientists used the blood of volunteers without skin conditions to test resveratrol’s ability to inhibit the growth of acne-causing bacteria.
“Resveratrol is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound that has been shown to have antineoplastic and wound-healing activities,” the researchers found.
This means when you combine red wine, or even dark chocolate which also has resveratrol in it, with a benzoyl peroxide treatment this will show “high initial antibacterial activity and sustained bacterial growth inhibition”.
“At first we thought that since actions of the two compounds are opposing, the combination should cancel the other out - but they didn’t, study author Dr Emma Talyor told the Daily Mail.
“This study demonstrates that combining an oxidant and an antioxidant may enhance each other and help sustain bacteria-fighting activity over a longer period of time.”
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