Red Wine Counters Some Negative Health Effects of Microgravity 78
astroengine writes "Great news for astronaut red wine aficionados: the alcoholic beverage can counteract some of the most troublesome physiological effects of microgravity. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether or not you have to pilot a spaceship), you have to drink a lot of wine to reap any benefit. These findings are fresh from the labs of French researchers (abstract) who found that by dosing unfortunate rats — hung by their tails to simulate microgravity — with resveratrol (a compound found in red wine), they could help stave off bone density loss and muscle atrophy. Does this mean resveratrol is an astronaut's best friend? Possibly, but judging by the quantities that are needed, it would most likely come in supplement form, rather than 750 ml bottles."
Another "DUH!" science (Score:1)
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Booze increases susceptibility to full gravity ...
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MMMMmmmm (Score:3)
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You know, it's interesting, in my experience red wine has directly caused me to experience microgravity.
Half a bottle and I'm walking on air. A full bottle and I can't feel my feet. A bottle and a half and I'm on my way to the moon.
The border condition appears at approximately the two bottle mark. Microgravity disappears and I re-enter what feels like three or four gees. Finally, I end up looking through the porcelain port-hole, driving the bus, doing the technicolor yawn. Talking to Ralph on the big w
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Please mod the parent post up, it's a work of art.
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This is pretty obvious if you think about it. Everyone knows that gravity can be simulated by centripetal acceleration. Drink enough wine and the room starts spinning.
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No. They can give you cancer [www.cbc.ca] just like most other things.
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Quit your prudish teetotaling whining, get your wuss ass down to the liquor store, and plug into a bottle of God's own cure to half a man's ills.
French solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Why is it that every time the French see a problem, they throw red wine at it? I'm not being mean, just curious. They make fine cheeses, too, but you never see them suggesting cheese for bone-mass loss.
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It was called the French Paradox, but it no longer exists.
When they ate small meals of rich foods (fresh and organic, not processed) and walked or rode their bikes everywhere, the exercise and moderation kept them healthy inspite of the apparent unhealthiness of their lifestyle. Now that they've largely adopted the American lifestyle -- eat to excess, eat processed foods instead of fresh, drive instead of exercise -- their rates of heart disease match ours.
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*Citation needed. I mean that sounds good, but I don't want to just believe it without some proof.
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I personally believe it is due to wine, more sex, and the right kind of fats and oils.
Re:French solution (Score:4, Informative)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy [wikipedia.org]
"rates of death from coronary heart disease among males aged 35–74 years were 115 per 100,000 people in the U.S. but only 83 per 100,000 in France."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Paradox [wikipedia.org]
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Re:French solution (Score:4, Insightful)
Because they produce and sell a lot of it, and want to sell even more. So there's always a sum of money around for every honest scientist, who can pen something that the wine marketing departments can use. I have very rarely seen research on the health benefits of wine that wasn't sponsored in some way by those who make it. Come to think of it, all positive "wine benefit" science that I bothered to research the funding for was paid for by the wine industry.
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But cheese does prevent bone-mass loss. It's full of calcium.
The parent comment didn't deny that. It just said that French like to talk more about health properties of wine than, say, cheese.
Re:French solution (Score:4, Funny)
or something like that..
This Article says a lot about Science (Score:2)
Re:This Article says a lot about Science (Score:4, Funny)
Spin the bottle is a reallllllllllllllly long game in space.
Scientists advise "Get Shitface on Smirnoff Ice" (Score:2)
Well, science journalism. So, tentative results from an animal trial using a compound that happens to be found in some wines (mostly red, but not all red and in some whites), cocoa, and peanuts leads to a headline about drinking in space? Really?
Well, it's from the same "science" and "learning" channel that brought you American Chopper and Hot Rod.
Anyway, wait till this story hits the mainstream press a couple more steps down the line, it'll be turned into another "drinking red wine is good for you!" story. Then people will half-remember the bits they want to remember and a month later they'll be using this as some excuse to get totally shitfaced because they vaguely remembered something about Smirnoff Ice being good for you, and the more the bet
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Well, science journalism. So, tentative results from an animal trial using a compound that happens to be found in some wines (mostly red, but not all red and in some whites), cocoa, and peanuts leads to a headline about drinking in space? Really?
Process of elimination. You don't get peanuts when you fly anymore.
Poor Research. (Score:5, Funny)
The atrophy claim is likely caused by the rats using their muscles to try and get upright. This sounds a lot like French researchers getting bored and drunk at work and said "Hey, Lets hang rats by their tails!! Woo hoo!"
- Dan.
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Whhhooooosh.
- Dan
It's a good thing too. (Score:5, Funny)
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+1 000 000 funny
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I'm quite sure Jesus has a great sense of humor. What's pity is so many people don't understand his jokes and still believe his hoax.
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Here, have a little troll food:
So your solution to finding new ways of living here on earth is to spend all your time and effort attacking nerds on a nerd website for liking space and astronauts.
Yeah, it's the space people who are irrational and nuts.
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That's fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. As long as you hold that view you're one less person we have to plan for when the research acquired while going in circles yields dividends around other planets we orbit in circles, just as our planet goes in circles around our sun, as the Moon goes in circles around the planet.
There is one Curious parallel that epitomizes the stereotypical duality of your post however. You strike me as the type of Anti - Space, lets focus on earth Nascar lover. Worshiping
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Spin-offs are a lousy argument for putting humans into space. If you want neat devices for use here on Earth, give money to creative and smart people to develop those; don't give them money to create neat devices to use in orbit and then see if some of them can be adapted for use on Earth.
I think there are very good reasons to put machines into deep space, and possibly good ones to put humans into cis-lunar space. But the spin-off argument isn't
Yesssir (Score:2)
Red wine will fix most anything, yessssir, here have a little more !
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...Comin' right up. Hold on. I'll just open this hatch door and get you another bottle.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhit!
Homer would have said... (Score:2)
To Red Wine! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!
Grapes, not wine (Score:2)
I suspect like most claims of positive "red wine" effects, it has nothing to do with wine and everything to do with grapes.
Drink grape juice, eat red grapes, take grape seed extract (and/or Resveratrol). None of it has anything to do with wine. People that claim "wine" instead of "grapes" just want a valid excuse to sell or drink alcohol :)
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You say this like it's a bad thing.
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The Autopilot?!? That drunk? (Score:1)
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether or not you have to pilot a spaceship)
Doesn't the shuttle basically pilot itself at this point? Then again, I suppose you have a whole different sort of issues if your autopilot starts drinking... [theinfosphere.org]
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Doesn't the shuttle basically pilot itself at this point? Then again, I suppose you have a whole different sort of issues if your autopilot starts drinking... [theinfosphere.org]
From what I hear the pilots have a lot to do on landing and you would not them to be too distracted during their no-power, one-pass-only, dead-stick landing.
(BTW, I have found that telling pilots who have to train for years to fly something that it "basically pilots itself" is not a good conversation starter.)
Can't drink on the American side (Score:2)
On the ISS, by the International Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement [state.gov] (Section 5.2), each country's law applies in the section it supplies. The American's do not allow alcohol in their sections, but I guess in the ESA and Russian modules, wine would be OK. Now, if we could just get the Dutch to launch a module, the astronauts could also enjoy some hash, which I am sure would be good for... something.
Hanging by Tail = Microgravity? (Score:1)
How does hanging a rat by its tail simulate microgravity?
Hmm? (Score:2)
How can you end up face down in the gutter if 'down' is no longer well defined?
This is exactly why I don't mourn manned spaceflig (Score:2)
WHO THE FSCK CARES!
What a waste of time and money.
Red Wine and Resveratrol (Score:1)