Oenophiles rejoiced last week when headlines trumpeted a study suggesting that the fountain of youth flows with red wine. Scientists at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging found that mice fed a high-calorie diet along with large doses of resveratrol--a natural substance found in grape skins--lived longer than mice given no resveratrol. Many of the negative effects of gluttony, such as liver damage and diabetes, were mitigated. One big consequence was not: the mice still got fat.
It's unclear if the results can be replicated safely in humans--and how. So don't experiment at home just yet. As...