wine and health

Red wine is usually credited with providing the health benefits of drinking, because so many of the compounds associated with specific biochemical properties come from the skins and seeds of the vinifera grape. Since red wine is made by fermenting the whole berry, skins, seeds and all, these molecules are extracted into the nascent wine. Resveratrol in particular is increasingly touted as the explanation for the French Paradox, despite mounting evidence that it is the combination of substances in wine working together synergistically that best fits the data. In any case, white wines and champagne get short shrift in the health story, but new evidence suggests we should take another look. It is true that champagne contains relatively little resveratrol, the miracle molecule. But it does contain two other potent antioxidants, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol. If you are a student of the Mediterranean diet, you may have heard of these as being the principal antioxidants in olive oil. Since wine...

Although the holidays are a festive time of year, for some it can be depressing. Those with drinking problems have a particularly difficult time, and I cannot in good conscience recommend alcohol as a therapy for the seasonal blues. There is some intriguing evidence however that substances in wine can help fight depression. Two studies from the same lab at the University of Santiago in Spain looked at the activity of the wine-derived compound resveratrol, and a cousin molecule called “trans-epsilon viniferin” (which is 2 resveratrol molecules linked together) on release of the neurotransmitter serotonin. This is the same molecule that many prescription antidepressants target, and with both wine substances the levels of serotonin were elevated in the same way. Another target of antidepressants called MAO inhibitors, were similarly found to have a parallel effect from the wine derivatives. A limiting factor is that these studies were in brain tissue from rats, so it is a big leap to conc...

What a treat to meet and have dinner with Fran Bigelow, founder of the famous Fran’s Chocolates here in Seattle last night. She is of course the creator of President Obama’s favorite chocolates, and her gray salt caramels are renowned. She is truly gracious, talented, and smart. I enjoyed talking with her about the similarities of wine and chocolate, and learned a few things. I knew that dark chocolate and wine contain many of the same polyphenols, the antioxidants that explain why they are both good for us. There is a lot of scientific literature supporting the healthful properties of both chocolate and red wine. But what I didn’t know was that chocolate, like wine, is the product of fermentation. The polyphenols aren’t present in significant quantities until the beans undergo fermentation, before roasting and processing. They do however vary in taste by place of origin, just as wines are known to express what is called terroir. Appreciation of fine chocolate has similarities to wine ...

The holidays are always a tricky time of year for those concerned about healthy eating, which of course should be all of us. We gather around food and drink, celebrate all that is good in our lives, and toast to friendship and goodwill. And we hit the buffet, usually not featuring low-cal and low fat options, so it is no wonder that average weight gain this time of year in the range of 10-15 pounds is the norm. Fortunately, there is one sacrifice that we don’t have to make. Red wine might actually help minimize the weight gain and other adverse effects of high fat meals. First the general advice: Scan the buffet first, before getting in line, so you can save room on your plate for healthier choices. Make portion control your mantra, and try for a mix of carbohydrates and proteins along with higher fat foods. Don’t deprive yourself of what you like, just don’t have as much of it. Another helpful suggestion is replace sweet with spicy. Standard advice usually also includes a caution to k...

I'm just back from my trip to India for an international plastic surgery conference where I was presenting a paper, but I must say that one of the highlights was the opportunity to speak about my book Age Gets Better with Wine at a dinner meeeting of the Indian Wine Academy. A very big thank-you to Subhash Arora for the invitation and the wonderful dinner at Ciro Restaurant in New Delhi this past Monday evening. There is very sophisticated group of wine lovers in India to be sure. One member, Arun Varma, who heads a marketing and travel service company, even had me convinced that wine drinking could be incorporated into Ayurvedic medicine. Why not? So what about Indian wine? It is a young industry, and there is a lot of potential. Growing regions in the north, where the climate is more temperate, are largely undeveloped but I wouldn't be surprised to see some really good wines in the not-too-distant future.

I know we have covered the new French paradox recently but I came across a fact that put it into sharp focus: No country in the world has cut its alcohol consumption more over the past 4 decades than France except the United Arab Emirates, where even possession of alcohol is banned.* Even more surprising is that beer and spirits consumption has held steady, so what has vintners really seeing red is that the reduction is entirely in wine. Talk about a paradox! Chalk it up to the disappearance of the leisurely meal. A key to healthy drinking is to consider wine as a part of a meal – in fact I have an entire chapter in Age Gets Better with Wine titled “Wine is a Food.” The average French meal is now said to be down to 38 minutes, barely an appetizer and aperitif before. And the French apparently frequent McDonald’s more than any other country in Europe. But others are taking up the slack: Spain formally classified wine as a food in 2003. And Spain has become not only one of the world’s g...

We continue to hear a lot about resveratrol these days. If you follow news releases on wine and health topics (which I do so you don’t have to) it seems that all of the goodness of wine can be attributed to this miracle molecule from wine grape skins. It is a pretty compelling story when you look at all of the basic science research on the subject, which offers tantalizing prospects of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, even the common cold (see below). But there’s a problem. To begin with, scientists first looked to wine-derived compounds because of all of the data showing a correlation between moderate drinking and lowered chances of having any of the above-mentioned diseases. When researchers discovered that resveratrol activates enzymes called sirtuins that extend lifespan in certain organisms, the door to a whole new area of scientific inquiry was opened. What resveratrol does in a Petri dish seemed to explain the benefits of drinking wine, and so now...