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Drink up, wine lovers.
By Christine Schoenwald — Written on Feb 08, 2018
Wine lovers rejoice! This may be the best news you've had in a long time. No, it's not a butter substitute that tastes exactly like butter without the fat.
Scientists have come up with a way to make wine hangover-free. I'll let you savor (like a good glass of Merlot) that little tidbit for a moment.
Everyone knows there are many types of hangovers: the basic, the blackout, and the existential crisis. There are even hangovers specific to what you overindulged in like the Red Wine Headache.
Some red wine drinkers feel like they're going to throw up, they get flushed, and have migraines within 15 minutes of drinking. For some Red Wine Headache sufferers, all it takes is one glass of wine before the agony sets in.
But new research by the University of Illinois, published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, says they've engineered a jailbreaking yeast that could greatly increase the health benefits of wine, while reducing the toxic byproducts that cause hangover symptoms.
The scientists have created a genome knife (enzyme) to do precise metabolic engineering of polyploid Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are used in the production of wine, beer, and other fermented foods and beverages. Using this knife, they can increase all the wonderful and lovely things about drinking wine while diminishing some of the not-so-lovely consequences such as hangovers.
The yeast engineered by this new knife/enzyme can result in wine with more resveratrol, the amazing antioxidant compound that slows Alzheimers disease, helps heart health by lowering cholesterol, and helps to fight cancer. The genome knife also has properties that help make wine smoother and have less toxic byproducts.
But that's not all. The enzyme can be used to isolate the genes responsible for the individual flavors — the same ones that make wines better tasting, or more tannic, dry, sweet, and any other words you might use at a wine tasting.
So, lets raise a glass (or two or three) of wine, and toast to the healthy benefits of drinking wine without out that next day body-payback of a hangover.
Cheers!
