Wine and Health

Moderate wine consumption and potential health benefits - fact or fantasy? There is a growing body of scientific research that indicates the polyphenols found in red wines may offer significant antioxidant protection. This translates to chemicals found in red wines, have the potential to overcome free radicals that are bound and determined to cause cellular damage, which is a root cause of various forms of cancer and heart disease.

Over 400 studies worldwide, many of them long-term and in large populations, have concluded that most healthy people who drink wine regularly and moderately live longer. The single group exception, whose members should not consume any alcohol, is pre-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer.

The keys to the beneficial aspects of wine drinking are regularity and moderation. The importance of this pattern of consumption cannot be over-emphasized. An occasional serving of wine is better than none, but overindulgence can be considerably more harmful than total abstinence.

The nutritional content of wine is minimal. There is no fat, cholesterol, or dietary fiber in any wine. On the other hand, only with overindulgence would anyone reach their Minimum Daily Requirement for calories, carbohydrates, sodium, protein, vitamins or minerals, all of which all wines contain to some mostly insignificant degree. The specific content varies between types, depending upon color, alcoholic strength and residual sugar.

Moderate consumption of red wine on a regular basis may be a preventative against coronary disease and some forms of cancer. The chemical components thought to be responsible are catechins, also known as flavonoids and related to tannins. Catechins are believed to function as anti-oxidants, preventing molecules known as "free-radicals" from doing cellular damage. One particular form of flavonoid, called oligomeric procyanidin, recently proved to prevent hardening of the arteries.