Wine Benefits of Red Wine: Good for Heart Health

Studies Show Red Wine Can Help Prevent Heart Disease

By Keith Watt, Morning Bay Vineyards

I am not a doctor or a medical researcher. Therefore this is just one person's opinion. But I think wine is good for you. In fact it might be one of the healthiest foods you can put in your body.

A few warnings: First, alcohol is a preservative. That means it kills bugs in any substance in which it is found. That's because it is poisonous. So enough alcohol will kill you. We also know that chronic high consumption of alcohol is bad for the health in many ways. Addiction is a downward spiral that leads to job loss, family loss, and, eventually, death. It's called too much of a good thing. We also know alcohol is a carcinogen, that is it causes cancer in mice in sufficient doses.

That's the bad news. How do you react to that? You might think that not drinking at all would be the safest response. But you might miss out on some of the many health benefits that moderate alcohol consumption can bring. A more prudent response might be to be selective about what you drink.

And beyond preference, from a strictly health point of view, it's clear that the best way to get your alcohol is in wine. Spirits are too strong with 20 to 50% alcohol. The pressure of that much booze is very hard on your liver. And if you choose to dilute it with other drinks--pop, for instance--you run the risk of other health challenges such as diabetes. On the other hand, beer involves the intake of quite a few calories to get the same amount of alcohol, endangering your health with the prospect of obesity.

You see where I'm heading. Unless you have a severe allergy, the healthiest way to get your moderate amount of alcohol is to take it in wine.

How much is "moderate?" Canadian guidelines suggest 10 to 14 5-ounce glasses per week is the maximum for health, depending on your weight. International guidelines differ. In Australia, where they take their drinking seriously, the government recommends a limit of 18 to 21 drinks per week, or 2 to 3 per day. However there is lots of evidence that government guidelines are too cautious. Consider the "French paradox," where wine consumption is about 60 liters a year per capita. That's 80 bottles for every man, woman and child in the country. If you consider that about half the population isn't drinking, and that this only measures wine consumption, that means there is a whole lot of drinking going on, yet France has one of the lowest incidents of heart disease in the world, despite a diet rich in butter sauces and other artery-clogging substances.

What are the French on to then? Certain things are known about the health effects of alcohol. First, alcohol thins the blood, which improves circulation. That leads to improvement in heart health because it doesn't have to pump as hard to circulate blood. It also has been shown to be an effective deterrent to dementia because improved circulation gets more blood, and oxygen, to the brain.

In addition, because alcohol is poisonous, as we mentioned above, taking wine with your food leads to fewer gastro-intestinal problems because the alcohol kills any strange bugs you might take in with your food. This is also true with the acidity in white wine. In fact some researchers suggest that if senior's homes served their occupants a glass of white wine with their meals there would be much less influenza.

Red wine really comes into its own in the realm of cancer prevention. The latest studies identify several compounds in fruits and vegetables which fend off some forms of cancer. These are know as anti-oxidants. The super-heavyweight of these compounds is something called resveratrol. This compound is sometimes considered the Fountain of Youth. It has been shown to improve skin tone, reduce cholesterol, fight inflammation, and fend off cancer. Resveratrol is found in red and orange fruits and vegetables, with the redder the better. Hence red wine, because of its rich red colour, contains one of the highest levels of resveratrol of any food. And an added note for Canadian wine drinkers: because Canadian red wines are grown at among the highest latitudes in the world, they have up to three times the resveratrol as wines grown at more southerly latitudes.

If wine is so great for us, why haven't we heard more about it? Because until the 1990s, public consciousness about wine was dominated by the attitudes of Prohibition (which, by the way, never happened in Europe). When the Prohibition movement hit mainstream North America at the turn of the century, it hit a society whose attitudes to alcohol were shaped by the "saloon" culture of the 1800s. During that time men drank rotgut whiskey usually distilled in someone's backyard. They drank all day and the subsequent violence and lawlessness that ensued convinced many that alcohol should be prohibited. Thus prohibition became a cause to support, mingled as it was with the move to get women the vote. And together with the puritannical streak that has always flowed through American popular culture, it's easy to see how rum came to be the "demon."

Meanwhile in Mediterranean cultures, wine consumption continued unabated, giving us the two classic models of alcohol consumption: the Northern European and Southern European alcohol culture. In the North, and in the North American West, alcohol was consumed as spirits, usually without food. The result was public drunkenness and mayhem. Meanwhile in the Mediterranean societies, wine was consumed with every meal, even by the very young who drank their wine diluted with water. Even today public drunkenness is regarded with distain by the general public in Mediterranean cultures. Not so in Northern European countries.

So you can see how the Prohibition movement arose out of the attempt to change alcohol behavior from binge consumption and violence.

All this is fairly technical. It doesn't take into account the multitude of lifestyle improvements wine can make. Wine stimulates appetite, leading to better weight maintenance. And because wine is a high quality food it motivates one to eat better quality food. You don't pair wine with Macdonald's. Finally, and perhaps mosy important, wine encourages good spirits, fellowship, laughter, singing and dancing. No one's done a study on the positive benefits of those things but it's fair to assume they MUST be good for your health.

* * * * *

Click for Instant Membership:
Join our wine club online

Our BC wines are hand made with loving care from Morning Bay's terraced vineyard and winery on North Pender Island in the sparkling southern Gulf Islands of BC. In the lee of the Olympic Peninsula rainshadow, Pender basks in a glorious mediterranean summer, with long stretches of dry, sunny weather.

With your wine club membership purchase, you'll be getting a superior hand made product produced with careful applications of water and nutrients. Our wine grapes ripen slowly and develop complex flavours that will delight any wine lovers palate. Hand-picked in late fall, grapes retain crisp aromatics while developing long, elegant flavours.

Click for Instant Membership:
Join our wine club online

Morning Bay products are now available at private wine stores and fine restaurants throughout British Columbia or Alberta. Watch for us on the menus at your favourite restaurant. Or order direct from the winery by e-mail: info@morningbay.ca