Photo: Benjamin/Flickr CC

Resveratrol, red wine’s miracle compound (responsible for what is know as the French Paradox, causing wine-swilling and cheese-eating Frenchmen to live into old age), has been shown in mice to block out-of-control blood vessel growth, which “plays a key role in certain cancers and in atherosclerosis,” according to scientists at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis.

There are three major eye diseases that resveratrol treatment may help: age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinopathy of prematurity. Age-related macular degeneration involves the development of abnormal blood vessels beneath the center of the retina. It accounts for more than 40 percent of blindness among the elderly in nursing homes, and as baby boomers get older, the problem is expected to grow, with at least 8 million cases predicted by the year 2020.

via Ingredient in Red Wine May Prevent Some Blinding Diseases.