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Dining with Wine |
We all aspire to a healthy and long life . . . . is drinking wine part of the secret? |
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No thing more excellent nor more valuable than wine was ever granted mankind by God. |
Wine
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Wine is the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages. |
Drink a glass of wine after your soup and you steal a ruble from your doctor. |
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There are more old wine drinkers than old doctors. |
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Wine drinkers enjoying up to three grasses a day reduced
their risk of dying from cancer by about a fifth compared with nondrinkers. |
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| Eat well, drink wisely, Live Longer. |
Not all wines are
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| Wine drinkers enjoying up to three glasses a day reduced their risk of dying from cancer
by about a fifth compared with nondrinkers', according to French and Danish studies.
Even at five glasses a day, wine drinkers cut their cancer risk by 10 percent
compared with teetotalers'. --- Grønbaek study |
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Common to these endorsements is the view that wine is as good for the body as it is
for the spirit. But, in eyes of science, all wines are not created equal.
Research has indicated that red wine provides the most significant protection against ill health. The key element appears to be the greater amount of polyphenols contained in red wines.
Polyphenols are known to act as antioxidants, which reduce the speed and level at which
our bodies suffer from oxidative stress, which in turn kills cells and triggers diseases,
especially cancer. The term "polyphenol" encompasses certain compounds derived from plants.
Other important sources of polyphenols include fresh fruits and raw
vegetables, tea,
grain and seeds. |
French Paradox |
Mediterranean Diet |
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| Public interest in the health benefits of wine exploded a decade ago,
when the CBS television show 60 Minutes broadcast a segment on the so-called French Paradox.
In the television program, Serge Renaud described how the French had an unexpectedly
low rate of fatal heart attacks given the amount of animal fat they ate,
and he explained that it was due to the large amounts of alcohol the French consumed
in the form of wine.
While we all aspire to a healthy and long life, Serge Renaud believes that he has found a recipe for increasing life expectancy dramatically. Drinking red wine is part of the secret. |
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Many of these healthy components merge in what has become known as the Mediterranean diet.
Traditional foods enjoyed in the region include fruit and raw vegetables, onions, garlic
and olives -- all of which are important sources of polyphenols.
Traditional Mediterranean patterns of wine drinking -- moderate quantities taken regularly with meals -- also seem to confer the most benefits. In one study, men who drank wine three to four days a week were 30 percent less likely to get heart disease than were those men who drank wine one day per week or less. |
Abstinence ! |
What is Moderate drinking? |
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| "If you are a proven light to moderate drinker, with no history suggesting
risk of alcohol problems and you are at coronary artery disease risk,
you should not change. For some persons abstinence may be hazardous." ---Arthur Klatsky, Chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. In 2001, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
have found that moderate alcohol consumption among people who have a specific version of a gene
that metabolizes alcohol have a greater reduction in risk of heart disease and higher HDL (good cholesterol)
levels. |
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In the interest of accuracy, it is important to establish the parameters of what we label "moderate" drinking. Although there is continuing debate within the medical/scientific research community as well as among policy makers on the precise definition of moderate drinking, there appears to be fairly wide reference to the following parameters: 1 to 2 drinks per day for women, and 2 to 3 drinks per day for men. However, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guideline for 2000 defined moderate as just one drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men. A drink is defined most frequently as 5 ounces of wine; (which contain about 14 grams of alcohol). |
