Is wine good for you?
In moderation, a glass or two can help your heart, prevent cancer and more
Is wine good for you?In moderation and as part of an overall healthy diet, the short answer is yes!
Thanks to its alcohol content and non-alcoholic phytochemicals (natural occurring plant compounds), wine has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers and slow the progression of neurological degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.
However, the amount of wine you drink matters tremendously. Drink more than what’s recommended, your health benefits are lost and your health risks go up.
Here’s what’s considered safe and effective:
Men: No more than two drinks per day.
Women: No more than one drink per day.One drink is defined as a 5-ounce glass of red or white wine, 12 ounces of regular beer (1 bottle) or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof distilled spirits.
The health benefits of wine
When it comes to wine’s health capabilities, here’s what we know:
It’s been well documented that moderate amounts of alcohol can raise your good cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol) and thin your blood. This is thought to be one of the primary cardiovascular benefits from wine (red and white), as well as hard liquor and beer.
Non-alcoholic phytochemicals in wine, such as flavanoids and resveratrol, act as antioxidants and prevent molecules known as “free radicals” from causing cellular damage in the body. Although some studies which have focused on the health benefits of resveratrol use much greater dosages than you’ll find in an average glass of wine, resveratrol has been shown to prevent blood clotting and plaque formation in arteries by altering lipid profiles and plasma viscosity.Findings from a recent study suggest that resveratrol can produce potent anti-thrombotic agents that can potentially improve cardiovascular health and lower the risk for coronary heart disease.In animal studies, resveratrol reduced tumor incidence by affecting one or more stages of cancer development.
Red wine provides much more resveratrol compared to white. That’s because the longer the skin is kept on the grape during the wine making process, the greater the concentration of resveratrol in the wine. In the case of white wine production, the skin is removed before fermentation, giving white wines a lower concentration in resveratrol compared to red wines. Also, wines made in cooler climates have greater amounts of resveratrol too. Thus, red wine from cool climates have the most resveratrol.
Wine May Fight Cancer, But How?
New approach to wine chemistry reveals new cancer- and obesity-preventing properties
Stuart Fox
Posted: February 17, 2010
Numerous medical studies have produced evidence that wine may help prevent cancer, but now, some scientists are presenting a new theory on the science behind its cancer-fighting properties. Their research may help develop new therapies.
The evidence that wine can help fight some cancers has been growing for several years. (At the same time, some studies have shown alcohol, especially in excess, increases the risk of some cancers.) But researchers have struggled to understand why. Many theories speculated that antioxidants in wines, including compounds like resveratrol, have something to do with it. Antioxidants may reduce the stress of chemical processes in the body. But scientists have struggled to find evidence that the compounds in wine play such a role.
William Li, president and medical director at the Angiogenesis Foundation, disagrees with the antioxidant theory. In his recent presentation at the TED Conference, an innovation summit, he argued that research shows that some compounds in wine—including resveratrol—function as angiogenic inhibitors, and those are the real cancer fighters.
Angiogenic inhibitors are substances that prevent the growth of new blood vessels. Because growing tumors need new blood vessels in order to survive and spread, angiogenic inhibitors can suppress tumor growth. (Blood vessels are not usually built elsewhere in an adult body unless tissue repair is actively in process.)
Antiangiogenics have proven so effective at fighting cancer that they make up many of the cancer medications already on the market. Identifying angiogenics inhibitors as the main source of wine's health effects widens the range of wines that contribute to cancer reduction. What's more, scientists are currently looking at antiangiogenic inhibitors as a treatment for chronic obesity, because they can suppress blood vessel growth in fatty tissue.
"There are very few studies that show an antioxidant approach in diet creates better health," said Li. "An angiogenesis approach has already been embraced by the medical community as improving disease outcomes, including cancer."
In his research, Li discovered that compounds like resveratrol prevented the development of cancer-feeding blood vessels by as much as 60 percent. And since unhealthy fat growth requires the same kind of blood vessel development as tumors, a diet rich in antiangiogenic compounds fights flab just as effectively as it fights cancer.
Other experiments Li performed on teas showed that foods previously identified as high in antioxidants were not necessarily high in antiangiogenics. While the antioxidant approach identified red wine as the healthier drink, Li believes that an antiangiogenic approach could discover similar health benefits in white wine as well.
"The anti-cancer power of many foods is mistakenly attributed to antioxidants," said Richard Beliveau, director of molecular medicine at the University of Quebec and author of Food to Fight Cancer. "Antiangeogentic activity is much more important than antioxidant activity in preventing cancer."
The argument continues to divide researchers, however. While Jack Losso, professor of food science at Louisiana State University, doesn't dispute Beliveau's assertion, he does not advocate fully ignoring antioxidants in favor of antiangiogenics.
"Cancer is like a basketball team—you can't beat it with one player," said Losso. "I say resveratrol is like Michael Jordan. In Chicago, he had a good coach and good teammates, and they had a parade every year. He goes to Washington, and they never win. You need antioxidants and antiangiogenics."
Li said he plans to continue to investigate the antiangiogenic properties of wine. Over the next two years, Li hopes to assemble a comparative grape and wine registry that identifies all of the antiangiogenic compounds in wine, their potencies, and their relative abundance in different types of wines and grapes. "By examining the potential of antiangeogenics in food, we will find answers to cancer all around us," he said. "In our groceries, in our food, and in our glasses."
Resveratrol Shows Anti-Viral Abilities
Italian study finds that the red-wine compound prevents viruses from replicating inside cells
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: September 30, 2009
Resveratrol, the polyphenolic compound found in red wine and the prominent focus of medical researchers, may be able to fight off viruses, according to a new Italian study. While the chemical has shown hints of anti-viral properties in previous studies, the new work shows that it appears to prevent virus replication at the cellular level. More research is needed to see how widespread the effect is.
Viruses, from the common cold to polio and the H1N1 "swine flu," are infectious agents that can only reproduce inside the cells of a host, inserting their genetic material into the cells. The new study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, finds that the polyomavirus is unable to hijack a cell for this purpose if resveratrol is around.
"The continuous presence of resveratrol in the culture medium is necessary to exert its antiviral action," said Gianfranco Risuleo, a genetic and molecular biologist at Sapienza University in Rome and a co-author of the study. "[The chemical] shows effects on the synthesis of viral DNA; the action is not at cell entry level but rather at the nuclear level."
Polyomavirus, a family of viruses that can trigger tumor growth, is often chosen for research because its reproduction is totally dependent on the metabolism of the infected cell and therefore can be measured during several stages of its proliferation.
For the current study, the researchers exposed two different lines of mouse tissue, one with tumors and one without, to polyomavirus and then to either 20 or 40 micromoles of resveratrol. (The average glass of red wine has 10 times less resveratrol.) Control groups were not given any resveratrol.
The researchers found that in the tissue without tumors, after 24 hours, 20 micromoles of resveratrol reduced the number of viable infected cells to 80 percent. By 48 hours, that number dipped to 60 percent. With 40 micromoles, only 60 percent of the infected cells were viable after 24 hours, with only 42 percent still healthy after 48 hours.
While the exact process requires further study, the research indicates that resveratrol somehow blocks the ability of a virus to use the nucleus of a cell to replicate its own DNA. In cases where resveratrol was removed from the experiment after only four hours, the virus was soon reproducing freely.
Risuleo added that the results show a definite clinical, if curious, potential for the red-wine compound. "Resveratrol shows a paradoxical effect on cultured cells: i.e. it is likely innocuous at low concentrations while it becomes significantly toxic at higher concentrations, in the range of 40 to 50 micromoles." Risuleo said similar results can be expected in similar viral lines, such as chicken pox (Varicella zoster), herpes simplex and even influenza A.
The resveratrol also prevented viral reproduction in tumor cells. "Interestingly, tumor cells seem slightly more sensitive to the drug," Risuleo said. Recent studies suggest some viruses may play a role in triggering some types of cancer. For example, according to a new study published online on Sept. 23 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, polyomavirus is now believed to be associated with a rare skin cancer, known as Merkel cell carcinoma.
Wine-Drinking Men Enjoy Longer Lives
Scientists in the Netherlands follow men for 40 years and report that wine drinkers live five years longer
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: Friday, May 01, 2009
Men who drink up to half a glass of wine a day may live five years longer than teetotalers, according to a Dutch study published online Thursday by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. The study also concluded that men who consumed light-to-moderate quantities (about 20 grams) of any type of alcohol daily gained two and a half years of life expectancy, with a lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease and other ailments associated with poor circulation.
The study, conducted at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, studied the lifestyle and alcohol consumption of 1,373 men born between 1900 and 1920 whose health had been examined regularly between 1960 and 2000. During that time period, 1,130 of the men died, more than half from heart disease, and the researchers compared the cause of death to the men's drinking habits.
The researchers found that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption of any beverage extended life by about two and a half extra years compared to men who drank no alcohol at all.
And men who drank only wine, up to about half a glass a day, lived around two and a half years longer than those who drank beer and spirits, and almost five years longer than those who drank no alcohol at all.
The researchers noted that alcohol consumption among the men nearly doubled during the course of the study, from 45 percent drinking to 86 percent, with wine growing especially popular. It was the beverage of choice for 2 percent at the start of the study but grew to 44 percent.
"In this study, 70 percent of all wine consumed was red wine," the researchers, led by Dr. Marinette Streppel of the Division of Human Nutrition, wrote in the paper. "This suggests that the cardioprotective effect of wine could be due to a protective effect of polyphenol compounds in red wine, but other explanations cannot be ruled out."
These results are irrespective of socioeconomic status, dietary and other lifestyle habits, factors long thought to influence the association between wine drinking and better health, the team noted in a statement.
Wine, Tea and Chocolate Improve Mental Performance
Scientists find that a diet rich in all three works best for elderly study participants
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: Thursday, January 08, 2009
A team of researchers at Oxford University, working with colleagues at the University of Oslo, say that a combination of wine, dark chocolate and tea, in moderate amounts, enhances cognitive performance in the elderly.
According to study co-author David Smith, a founding director of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Aging, the study's findings, published in the January issue of the Journal of Nutrition, suggest people should regularly consume low levels of wine, dark chocolate and tea. All three are rich in polyphenolic compounds called flavonoids found in grapes, tea leaves and cocoa beans.
Smith warns, however, that it's best not to get carried away—too much chocolate and too much wine are both known to be bad for the health. "The key thing is: How much wine?" said Smith. "We found that the effect was maximal with as little as a small glass of wine."
Previous research on wine, tea and chocolate found that each product contains relatively high levels of flavonoids, and all three are also associated with a lower risk of dementia and greater cognitive performance. The scientists wanted to see if a yearlong diet that included low levels of all three could lead to better brain activity.
To test their theory, the researchers pulled data on 2,031 Norwegian men and women, ages 70 to 74, who had taken part in a previous Norwegian study. In that research, participants filled in information about their habitual food intake and underwent a battery of cognitive tests.
The Oxford and Oslo team found that participants who consumed combinations of between 1 to 3.5 ounces of wine, 10 grams of chocolate and up to 200 milliliters of tea, preferably green, per day had a 41 percent to 53 percent lower risk of performing poorly on cognitive tests than other participants. The different foods had different effects. Those who only drank wine regularly did better than those who only consumed chocolate. Those who consumed all three performed best.
The results did not tend to improve for those participants who consumed greater quantities of wine, tea or chocolate. And the authors warn that the test is observational and not clinical—they did not recruit participants who naturally consume much more of either ingredient. Only four of the volunteers drank more than three glasses of wine per day, for example, so the effects of heavy drinking could not be examined. The study notes that such levels of drinking are associated with lower cognitive performance.
Smith added that the results could be partially explained by factors other than dietary choices. The study notes that participants who are moderate wine consumers may have "a healthier diet or a complex set of favorable social and lifestyle factors." Smith said that future research could address some of the limitations of the study.
The Boons of Beer
Appreciation brewing for lagers and the like in clinical laboratories.
Wine snags a lot of credit for its heart-healthy effects; truth is, moderate consumption of beer provides the same benefits.
Research suggests that it's the alcohol itself that lowers cardiovascular risk (by reducing inflammation, "thinning" the blood and improving insulin sensitivity). Here are six more reasons to cheer for beer!
Scientists at the Research Institute of Brewing and Malting in Prague announced that they've created a new non-alcoholic beer that may reduce hot flashes in menopausal women. It's long been known hops naturally contain low levels of the same plant estrogens found in soy; the Czech researchers used new technology to boost the concentration (to ten times that of some lagers).
Researchers at Oregon State University in Corvallis have reported that xanthohumol, an antioxidant in hops, may thwart the growth of prostate cancer by triggering the rampant cells to self-destruct. Unfortunately, the dose used in the study equals 17 beers (please don't try that at home). Upshot: The findings may lead to the development of a hops-derived pharmaceutical treatment.
In a Tufts University study of 2,900 men and women, people who drank a beer or two a day had higher bone-mineral densities than nondrinkers. Scientists say silicon, a mineral in beer that promotes healthy bones, may be to thank.
Twenty percent of people in a University of California, Davis, study said they knew that beer, like wine, contains antioxidants. It's true. Beer also contains some B vitamins, and certain varieties even have a bit of soluble fiber, which has been linked with reduced cholesterol.
Wine Helps Kill Bad Oral Bacteria, Study Finds
Both red and white wines were found to affect the growth of the bacteria behind tooth decay and sore throat
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Recent research at the University of Pavia in Italy has found that both white wine and red wine may help prevent the proliferation of streptococci, a type of bacteria associated with cavities, tooth decay and sore throats.
Oral strains of streptococci are responsible for the formation of dental plaque which, if left unchecked, can lead to cavities and periodontal disease. In the throat, these strains cause the burning, red inflammation known as strep throat. "Our findings seem to indicate that wine can act as an effective antimicrobial agent," in the mouth and throat, said the study's authors, led by Maria Daglia, a researcher at the University's Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. The study was published in the July 11 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
To determine what compounds in wine may be responsible for the observed action, the scientists separated the differing chemical compounds in wine from one another. When they repeated the tests, phenolic compounds, such as tannins and anthocyanidins showed no affect on bacterial growth. However, the organic acids in wine--some found in grapes, some a product of malolactic fermentation--began to kill the bacteria.
The positive results add to the findings of a previous study found that a red-wine compound may help to destroy two types of bacteria associated with gum disease . In that study, researchers found that the polyphenol resveratrol reduced one type of bacteria by 40 percent and the other by 60 percent, when tested on immune cells from mice. The ability of resveratrol to destroy streptococci was not tested in the Italian study.
