subject: The Health Benefits Of Red And White Wines [print this page] The health benefits of wine have been well documented over time. In 1410 BCE, an unnamed French doctor wrote a printed book about wine as medicine. Hippocrates had an entire list of specific red and white wines for a series of different medical issues, such as fevers, infections, and even deep cuts and wounds.
The health benefits of wine even go back to biblical times. The Jewish Book of Laws, The Talmud, has a passage that reads "At the head of all medicine am I, wine; only when there is no wine are drugs required." And while we wouldn't necessarily recommend you stop taking your required medications and replaced it by drinking a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rose, the health benefits of drinking wine have been well documented.
When discussing wine and its health benefits, many individuals will immediately reference the French Paradox. A phenomenon that has been the subject of a plethora of research assignments for generations, the French Paradox asks why citizens of France, who typically eat a high amount of fatty food, are able to stay so skinny. Not only that, but French citizens have a ridiculously low heart disease rate. a medical fact even more frustrating to outsiders because of France's typical high-fat diet.
Many experts have credited red wines as the reason for the French Paradox. A series of different studies have shown that drinking red wines moderately will lower the chance of caner, Alzheimer's, and yes, heart disease.
This is because red wines (and red grapes, for that matter) contain an anti-oxidant called resveratrol. Researchers from Harvard Medical School have concluded that digesting resveratrol will typically offset effects of overeating and high-fat diets by lowering glucose levels and making the heart and blood vessels stronger.
A researcher by the name of David Sinclair concluded that reservatrol helps to increase the life-expectancy of yeast cells. And while some gardeners and farmers use resveratrol to protect their crops from fungi and other sources of bacteria, more and more studies are coming out that suggest reserbatrol is better used for its anti-inflammatory tendencies.
While red wines aren't the only product to have resveratrol in it, there is nothing on this planet that naturally has as much resveratrol flavonoids in it as red grapes.
Ironically, the only recent hole in medical education that does not involve wine, or alcohol in any sort of way, is the medical books and textbooks produced during the times of American Prohibition. For nearly a quarter of a century, medical texts were completely censored of any and all references to alcohol for any application other than external. This included red and white wines, and is just one of the many reasons to be grateful that era is over.
