wine and health

In my book Age Gets Better with Wine I have a chapter called “Wine is a Food” in which I emphasize the importance of wine as a part of a healthy meal. There is good scientific evidence for why this is the case, and a new study adds to the picture. Wine with food changes the way the fatty components of the meal are handled by the body. We all know that saturated fats are bad news nutritionally speaking. High cholesterol levels contribute to increases risk of heart disease and other problems, but it isn’t purely a matter of the fat content in the food. When the fats are absorbed and oxidized, they are converted into a particularly malicious form know as cholesterol oxides and lipid peroxides. This recent study, conducted by INRAN, the Italian Institute for Research on food and Nutrition, (a division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry), recruited 12 volunteers who were given a meal with known cholesterol-laden meal consisting of a double cheeseburger. The 6 men and 6 w...