Sounds too good to be true, but a glass of your favourite red wine could be the way to repair damage to the discs in the back that is usually the major cause of back pain, according to new research.

An ingredient in red wine called ‘resveratol’ lowers the rate of degeneration of the discs between the vertebrae of the spine.

Back pain is one of the major contributors to time off work and the problem has been exasperated by our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Time spent sat at a desk causes damage to the discs between the spine’s vertebrae leading to back pain.

By injecting the ingredient, which is found in the skins of red grapes (and already known to be a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant), researchers found that resveratrol stopped further damage to spines that had already suffered injury to disc cartilage. The substance was found to release higher levels of ‘proteoglycan’ which aids healing and slows cartilage degeneration.

Although these tests were carried out in animal studies, researchers hope the findings will go on to help the millions of people who suffer with back pain caused by worn out or damaged discs.

Learn more about back pain and therapies that can help a bad back here

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