wine and health

What is a wine column doing in a fitness and health magazine? Fair question. Many people believe alcoholic beverages are unhealthful. When drunk to excess, wine is clearly not a healthful lifestyle choice. But imbibed in moderation? The data are in and may be a boon to healthful living.
The US is 38th per capita in the world in wine consumption. However, if we were more like the rest of the world we might be healthier if we drank more wine. Many diseases might be less prevalent.

The US, for example, leads the world in cardiovascular disease (CVD), with nearly 1 in 4 people suffering from it. Medical experts often attribute this to our rich diet and lack of exercise. But what about other countries? France has the lowest death rate from heart disease in Europe despite having a similar high fat diet. Could it be that wine consumption is responsible for France’s lower CVD rate? A 1998 article in the journal Epidemiology shed some light on this “French Paradox,” noting in a five-year French study that those who drank two to five glasses of wine a day had up to a 31% less risk of death than nondrinkers. It’s the same for diabetes; in a six-year Harvard study moderate drinkers were almost half as likely to develop the disease as nondrinkers.

There’s more:

• Over 50 studies have shown that moderate drinkers live longer than non-drinkers
  

• Regularly consuming 30 grams of alcohol (about 3 drinks) increases “good” HDL cholesterol
  

• Wine contains catechins (also known as flavonoids) that are believed to function as antioxidants, helping to prevent “free radicals” from doing cellular damage
  

• Red wine contains compounds called resveratrol and quercetin. Lab studies and other evidence have shown these to boost the immune system, block cancer formation, and possibly protect against heart disease.
  

• Wine is a mild tranquilizer that can reduce anxiety and tension (it can heighten them as well)
  

• Wine provides substances that aid digestion.
  

Despite all this, there are good reasons why many should not drink wine at all. Drinking wine can have negative health effects including, perhaps, a causal relationship to breast cancer in women. The 1995 USDA Dietary Guidelines say it best: “If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation, with meals, and when consumption does not put you or others at risk.”