Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019 Page 15
Renee: I was having a dark
time – so I vanished for six
years to take care of myself
Boost your good
bacteria... have
a glass of red!
IN her latest role, she plays tragic Hollywood
legend Judy Garland. But Renee Zellweger
has spoken about how her own career has
also had its dark times.
The Bridget Jones star took a six-year break
from 2010 after being worn down by the pres-
sures of showbusiness.
Miss Zellweger, 50, told Red magazine: ‘It was
because I wasn’t taking care of myself. It had
got to the point where I felt like I was sitting
beside myself when I was filming, watching
myself and rolling my eyes. And going, “Oh,
shut up!” And so I decided to go away. Become
more interesting. Do something else.’
Miss Zellweger, who won an Oscar for ColdMountain, said she has learnt from making
bad choices in her life. She said: ‘I got some
bad advice. It was pretty dark. And sad.
‘But I don’t look at it as wasted life, because
I learned a lot from it. I learned a lot about
perspective. To recognise different patterns
of my behaviour. To understand different
consequences. And so I’m just grateful.’
She plays Miss Garland in the biopic Judy,
which will be released in the UK in October.
The film charts the Wizard Of Oz star’s down-ward spiral and chaotic final months. Miss Gar-
land, who began performing aged two and a
half, had five marriages, money problems and
an addiction to sedatives. She died of a drug
overdose in London in 1969, aged 47.
Speaking about playing her, Miss Zellweger
said: ‘There was a lot I didn’t know about
Judy’s journey. Because I didn’t know that
they were giving her drugs by the time she
was pre-pubescent. That every day there
were pills: pills to keep her weight down; pills
to temper her development; pills to wake her
up; pills to go to sleep.’
The full interview appears in the October
issue of Red, on sale tomorrow.By Eleanor Sharples
TV and Radio ReporterGrateful:
Renee
Zellweger in
Red magazine.
Top: As Judy
GarlandDRINKING red wine boosts
good bacteria in your gut,
researchers have found.
They say the impact on the
‘gut microbiome’ – which helps
support the immune system
and metabolism – could finally
explain the beneficial effects of
red wine.
A study of nearly 3,000 people,
including 900 British twins, found
those who drink red wine have a
significantly better balance of
good to bad gut bacteria.
Researchers at King’s College
London analysed the impact of
beer, cider, spirits and white and
red wine on the gut microbiome of
916 female twins.
The balance of bacteria was
significantly better in red wine
drinkers. They also had lower
cholesterol and were less likely to
be obese.
Even among pairs of twins, who
share their DNA and upbringing, if
one sister preferred red wine then
her gut bacteria would be signifi-
cantly healthier than her sister’s.
The researchers compared their
results to similar experiments in
the US and Holland, involving
another 2,000 people, and found
the trend held true.
Red wine seemed to have a sig-
nificant impact even among those
who said they had a glass only
once every two or three weeks.The academics believe this is
down to polyphenols – defence
chemicals naturally present in
grapes – which they think acts as
fuel for good bacteria.
Researcher Dr Caroline Le Roy,
whose work is published in the
Gastroenterology medical journal,its long-debated beneficial effects
on health.’
An imbalance of ‘good’ microbes
compared to ‘bad’ in the gut can
lead to adverse health outcomes
such as reduced immune system,
weight gain or high cholesterol.
A person’s gut microbiome with
a higher number of different bac-
terial species is considered a
marker of gut health.
The team found that the gut
microbiota of red wine drinkers
contained a greater number of
different bacterial species.
But it’s no excuse to work your
way through a whole bottle. Dr Le
Roy said: ‘Drinking red wine rarely,
such as once every two weeks,
seems to be enough to observe an
effect. If you must choose onealcoholic drink today, red wine is
the one to pick. However, it is still
advised to consume alcohol with
moderation.’
Scientists said the study may
pave the way for researchers to
eventually extract the benefits
from red wine in order to develop
a medical treatment.
Professor Kim Barrett of the
University of California San Diego,
said: ‘In the long run, this work
might suggest (perhaps less
pleasurable) ways to obtain the
apparent health benefits of red
wine consumption without drink-
ing the wine itself, although more
work would be needed to isolate
and test the components of red
wine that are responsible for the
effects seen here.’‘Moderation is
still advised’By Ben Spencer
Medical CorrespondentWilliam and
Kate’s charity
cuts Sussexes
from its title
THE Duke and Duchess of Cam-
bridge’s charity has officially
removed the Duke and Duchess
of Sussex from its title.
Documents published by
Companies House show that it
is now called The Royal
Foundation of The Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge.
It was formerly The Royal
Foundation of the Duke and
Duchess of Cambridge and the
Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The change marks the final
step in Harry and Meghan’s split
from the charity, after they
broke away to set up their own
Sussex Royal foundation.
It followed reports of a rift
among the two couples, once
dubbed ‘the Fab Four’. Sources
at the time denied there was a
feud, saying it was ‘largely
about preparing both couples
for their future roles, which are
obviously on divergent tracks’.
A fee of £10 was paid to Compa-
nies House by William and Kate’s
charity to file the ‘notice of
change of name by resolution’.By David Wilkessaid: ‘While we have long known of
the unexplained benefits of red
wine on heart health, this study
shows that moderate red wine
consumption is associated with
greater diversity and a healthier
gut microbiota that partly explainPicture: CHLOE MALLETT