LONDON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Red wine, already found to help brain function and guard against cancer and heart disease, has been found to help the lungs.
The London Daily Mail reported researchers said the component resveratrol found in red wine seemed to "damp down" the inflammatory process in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Researchers from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London said the polyphenol antioxidant compound, found in the skins of red fruits such as grapes, could be developed to treat COPD, most often caused by smoking.
COPD, which is irreversible and progressive, causes one's lungs to deteriorate making it difficult and eventually impossible to breathe.
Scientists found two glasses of red wine counteracted the arterial damage caused by one cigarette.
The study appears in the journal Thorax.
