Does red wine keep you young?

Drinking red wine may help people to live longer, a new study has found.

According to Wired, pharmaceutical company Sirtris has discovered that a substance called resveratol, which occurs naturally in red wine, has been found to have life-prolonging effects in mice and now humans.

The company has developed a drug from the substance that is five times easier for the human body to absorb than its naturally occurring cousin. A study conducted by the company found the drug was effective in stimulating a gene that plays a role controlling aging, significantly reduced blood sugar in diabetic patients as compared with a placebo group, and did not have any negative side effects.

“We believe that this is the first time that a drug candidate has shown efficacy in a disease of aging by targeting the genes that control aging,” Sirtris chief executive Christoph Westphal told Wired.

The drug is still in an early test phase and is unlikely to reach the market before 2012. In the meantime, if you needed a reason to have that extra glass of red with dinner, you now have it.