Red wine may help flu from mutating

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ROME, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Italian researchers have found that they could reduce the seasonal flu mortality rate in mice by 60 percent with resveratrol, found in red wine.

Italy's Higher Health Institute, Rome University and the National Research Council found that a molecule found in red wine -- resveratrol contained in the skin of the red grapes which give the wine its color -- can block the flu virus from mutating, reported ANSA Friday.

Red wine has been found to be good for combating cardiovascular conditions and diseases like Alzheimer's disease.

"This discovery is a very important because it increases the possibility of combating the virus and has proved effective against all different types of flu," researchers said.

The findings have been published by the Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The report is important because of the global alert over avian flu, which researchers fear could mutate and cause a pandemic, ANSA said