Whenever most of us think of endurance, we think of a variety of things. We think of an athlete crossing the finish line after a ten mile run. We imagine mountain climbers sopped in sweat reaching the apex of a steep grade. We think of lung capacity, we think of willpower and we think, with a bit of envy, of the Energizer Bunny. When it comes to endurance, we think of all sorts of things, but wine isn’t usually one of them. Drinking paper cups of Chianti during a race seems pointless, crossing the finish line and immediately chugging a glass of Shiraz seems weird, and pouring a bottle of Merlot over yourself in a celebratory shower seems downright ridiculous: that stuff will stain your workout clothes.

Despite the fact we might not equate endurance and wine — or really wine and athletics — recent studies are proving there may be a strong relation between a red wine compound and your body‘s ability to produce energy.

Now Gatorade, don’t worry. PowerAde, stop pouting. All Sport, be a sport: red wine is not out to take your jobs, it’s simply out to prove that endurance can be found at the bottom of all sorts of bottles, not just the ones designed as sports drinks.

In November of 2006, Johan Auwerx - a researcher at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cell Biology in France - published an article based on proof that reservatrol, a natural compound found in red wine, could help improve endurance in mice. He and his coworkers proved this by putting groups of mice on a variety of diets and noting the results.

One group of mice was placed on a regular diet, one group was placed on a diet high in fat, and one group was placed on a diet high in fat and high in reservatrol. After three weeks, the mice on the diet high in fat weighed 60 percent more than the mice on the regular diet, but the mice on the diet high in fat and high in reservatrol weighed only 20 percent more than the mice on the regular diet. The mice who were taking reservatrol gained 40 percent less weight. These mice also portrayed better fitness levels: they were able to run twice as long as the mice who were not given the compound (even after the weight gains were taken into account).