The Truth About Red Wine and Heart Disease?
by Nicholas
Webb
zone3
Red Wine, Heart Disease, Hungry Sharks and Knights in Shining
Armor
What is so special about wine? What is it that makes it potentially
more protective against coronary heart disease, and perhaps other
diseases, that other forms of alcohol?
In recent years, scientists have concluded without doubt that many
human diseases such as heart disease, cancer and the aging process is
caused or stimulated by a ravenous group of chemicals called free
radicals. These highly charged little villains prowl the body and attack
healthy cell membranes through a process that is called oxidation. In this
scenario, there is however a knight in shining armor that jumps to the
rescue and purges these ever hungry little killers. The name of our
crusader is antioxidants.
Without getting too technical, the oxidation process in our bodies is
crucial for health, without it, for instance, we would not be able to
extract energy from our food. But if there are too many free radicals in
our bodies this can be harmful.
Our body has its own defenses against free radicals, in the form of
enzymes that are able to turn the hungry little sharks into harmless
water. However, sometimes our body’s natural defense mechanisms can’t
cope. Other times, external events can cause huge increases of free
radicals within our bodies, such as x-rays, cigarette smoke and exposure
to toxic substances. At times, this surge of free radicals can swamp our
defenses and illnesses such as radiation sickness may take place.
So what does all this have to do with heart disease?
Low density lipoproteins, commonly know as “bad” LDL, can penetrate and
gather against the inner walls of our arteries, under certain conditions,
forming fatty streaks and plaque. Taken alone, LDL particles aren’t so
dangerous it seems, however, when attacked by free radicals they turn into
dangerous and somewhat aggressive cells, capable of actually penetrating
and harming the smooth inner walls of our arteries. This process is called
oxidation. Oxidized LDL is known to be the culprit in stimulating
atherosclerosis, heart disease and stroke.
Antioxidants, as the name suggests (anti-oxidants) can help stop the
oxidation process, which are the results of free radicals doing their
stuff. Most antioxidant research has been carried out on vitamins (A, E,
beta carotene) but quite a lot of work has also been done on the healthy
benefits of red wine. While most research on red wine has been done in
relation to coronary heart disease, it seems that the benefits of wine
don’t stop there.
Red wine and Coronary Heart Disease
Red wine contains a wide range of flavanoids; these are the chemicals
that give the wine its particular taste and character, making one
different from another. Many of these flavanoids act like antioxidants.
Perhaps the forerunner of wine research was carried out by a certain Serge
Renaud, who discovered the French Paradox, which suggested that wine was
the decisive factor in protecting the people in southern France from their
very high fat diets and ultimately coronary heart disease. Even if these
people do eat large quantities of high fat cheese, pâté, and salami they
have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world.
Another study, statistical rather than practical, by a Professor Grey
of the University of Bern in Switzerland focused on the low, medium and
high coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality figures of the World Health
Organization.
What did he find? Well from among the high mortality areas were Finland
and Scotland, the middle areas included Ireland, and the low CHD areas
included Spain, Italy and France. He then compared heart attack rates with
antioxidant levels in blood samples taken from men living in those
areas.
What he found was very interesting, the results showed that high
antioxidant levels, in particular vitamin E, coincided with low death
rates of heart disease. Moreover, his results showed that vitamin E levels
were 94% more accurate in predicting CHD rates than were cholesterol
levels or blood pressure figures! Apart from diet, the high CHD regions
drink very little, if any wine, whereas the low regions traditionally
accompany their meals most days with wine.
It certainly seems strange that two much studied cities; Glasgow in
Scotland and Toulouse in France show many similarities and yet many
differences. The inhabitants of both cities eat tremendous amounts of high
fat foods, traditionally take little exercise and drink alcohol. The
surprising difference is that while the people of Glasgow have one of the
highest rates of CHD in the world, the fortunate people of Toulouse have
one of the lowest. Traditionally beer and spirits are the preferred drinks
in Glasgow, while the folks in Toulouse drink red wine.
It has also been suggested that drinking in moderation together with
meals is beneficial, while binge drinking at bars in the evening is
harmful. It seems the southern Europeans don’t drink for the alcohol buzz,
but just as a pleasant accompaniment to their meals.
At first the large heart institutions such as the American College of
Cardiology and the American Heart Association ignored both antioxidants
and frowned upon wine. While it is clear that it could be potentially
dangerous for a physician to recommend his patients start drinking
alcohol, it is also strange that they pretended for so many years to
ignore the evidence. Well, now even if they don’t promote the taking of
vitamin pills; antioxidants and free radicals are now recognized.
However, according to the AHA “There is no scientific proof that
drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace conventional
measures ... No direct comparison trials have been done to determine the
specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart
disease or stroke.” Just ask yourself who would pay for such studies.
Clinical Trials have the purpose of showing one thing to be better than
another, or whether a certain substance is beneficial to health. The costs
of clinical trials is so high that only the pharmaceutical industry have
the financial clout to invest in them – invest is the correct word. What a
surprise.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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