Resveratrol, an ingredient found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and some plants, stops uncontrolled blood vessel growth in the eye.

"Resveratrol has been identified as an anti-ageing compound. Given our interest in age-related eye diseases, we wanted to find out whether there was any link," said retina specialist Rajendra S Apte.

Apte, formerly from University of Mumbai and now with the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, added, "There were reports on resveratrol's effects on blood vessels in other parts of the body, but there was no evidence that it had any effect within the eye."

Conducting experiments in mouse retinas, the researchers found that resveratrol can inhibit formation of new blood vessels.

The investigators studied mice that develop abnormal blood vessels in the retina after laser treatment. Apte's team found that when the mice were given resveratrol, the abnormal blood vessels began to disappear.

His discovery has implications for preserving vision in blinding eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related mascular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness.

In diabetic retinopathy, blood vessels don't develop beneath the retina. Rather, they grow into the retina itself.

Diabetic retinopathy causes vision loss in about 20 per cent of the patients with diabetes. The formation of new blood vessels also plays a key role in certain cancers.

Age related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults that results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina. It begins with characteristic yellow deposits in the macula.

Pic: Trish Hughes