Ever hear of something called resveratrol?

If you haven’t, it’s a compound found most commonly in the skin of grapes. Resveratrol can also be found in—you guessed it—red wine. It’s been dubbed as a miracle chemical which studies suggest may fight everything from heart disease and cancer to the very aging process itself. Because of its reportedly beneficial properties, researchers around the world are putting it under a microscope—literally—in an attempt to find new applications for it.

The latest news comes out of Germany, according to the New York Times. It shows that resveratrol may be a new weapon in the fight against obesity.

Resveratrol appears to have the ability to restrain the development of fat cells while having other obesity fighting characteristics, according to a report from researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany. The New York Times reported the researchers found that, in a laboratory experiment with “pre-fat cells,” resveratrol prevented these “pre-fat cells” from developing into full gown, mature fat cells. Not only did resveratrol stop the growth of fat cells, but it also stalled the storage of fat in the cells. Scientists formerly believed that people have a set number of fat cells at birth. However, it is now widely understood that stem cells can differentiate into full-fledged fat cells well into adulthood and old age.

Pamela Fischer-Posovsky, a pediatric endocrinology research fellow in the University of Ulm’s diabetes and obesity unit, told the New York Times that resveratrol has anti-obesity properties.

“Thus, resveratrol might help to prevent development of obesity or might be suited to treating obesity,” she told the Times. That’s why some believe if resveratrol can fight off obesity along with preventing cancer and help someone from getting sick, then it could be called the medical wonder of the 21st century.