Red wine: is it good for your health?

 asks Mike Bodnar...

Image: thedrinksbusiness.com

Well, I could just say yes and we could all just head down to the nearest wine bar for a damn
good workout. But it's a bit more complicated than that, and anyway, is the answer actually yes?

Whether red wine is good for you is a question that's been pondered for decades, and it's not an easy question to answer – it's also not a simple question to ask.

Why? Because of course there are plenty of red wine drinkers who only want to hear that yes it is good for you, so these are not the right people to be asking the question of in the first place, even if they're as fit and healthy as a butcher's dog.

No, the best people to ask 'Is red wine good for you?' are the scientists and health professionals who are able to study the properties of red wine dispassionately, and not with one eye on the time to see how long it is till wine o'clock.

But before we learn a drop more about what they've been finding out, we need to ask: why red wine in particular? Why not white wine?

And why is red wine red? Questions, questions; it's enough to drive you to drink.

Pinot Noir, bursting with polyphenols. Image: Mike Bodnar

Surprisingly, there are only a handful of grape varieties in the world that have red juice. The vast majority of red grapes have clear juice. The colour of red wine comes from the grape skins when the winemaker leaves the skins and the juice in contact for a while after pressing – the longer the contact, the deeper the red.

So that suggests that any health properties of red wine must come from the grape skins rather then the juice. And yes, that's right. Grape skins contain antioxidants called polyphenols which research has shown to be generally good for us.

And there are more polyphenols in red grapes than white grapes, so that's why there's more focus on red wine and what it can do for us. I'll drink to that.

One of these polyphenols is resveratrol - not a word to try after a few glasses of Penfold's Hermitage - but, I'm delighted to tell you, resveratrol can be both heart-protecting and anti-aging, so obviously a little of that wouldn't do us any harm right? True, but there's a catch.

Studies in mice showed compelling evidence that resveratrol had definite beneficial effects, because it decreases bad cholesterol (LDL), and increases good cholesterol (HDL). Must be true – when did you last see a mouse with a Zimmer frame?

But the mice were given resveratrol as a supplement - they didn't attend a red wine tasting.

Image: http://www.la-rubrica-della-chimica.com/

For those benefits to be felt by humans it's said – by one Harvard-linked Dr. Kenneth Mukamal – that we'd have to drink hundreds or even a thousand glasses of red wine a day to ingest the required amounts of the good stuff. I can hear red wine fans shouting 'yes!' and punching the air right now, but before you pop the cork on that delicious Burgundy you were saving for Christmas, let's face it – a hundred glasses of red wine a day and you've got a problem.

But the actual amount of red wine that's 'good for you' is contentious anyway. There seems to be general agreement that yes red wine does contain elements of benefit, but there's a whole wine-box of other factors to take into consideration.

What is 'good for you' depends on, for example, your gender. Sadly ladies, it has been proved

that men can safely drink more than women – in a health context that is. Obviously either sex (and, to be completely woke, any gender or combination of genders) can get completely wasted if they want to, but that's not the point.

For example, it's suggested that a couple of glasses of red wine a day for males, and one glass for females, can have health benefits. Any more and those benefits don't necessarily increase, any less and you might not get any benefits at all. It's a typically cautious approach though, as no scientist wants to be seen promoting alcohol, or end up in court being sued by someone who develops a drinking problem and shouts, 'I'll she yew in court pal!'.

If you're boozy you'll get dizzy. Image Mike Bodnar

But the 'right' amount also depends on factors such as your weight, the rest of your diet, and how you live on a day-to-day basis.

Which brings us to the issue of lifestyle. Have you heard of the 'French Paradox'? This is based on the fact that the French drink a lot of red wine – at least in comparison with most other countries – while also having a high intake of dietary cholesterol and saturated fat, and yet the French have a relatively low incidence of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) death rates.

That's the paradox: France is a nation of bon vivants who should, in principle, not live long enough to enjoy a fine vintage Bordeaux that needs to be aged in the cellar for 60-to-80 years before it's ready to drink. They'd be popping their clogs before they could pop the cork. But somehow they do live long enough, and have a much lower rate of CDH than say the Scandiwegian countries, or Britain or Northern Ireland.

So on the surface it would look as though drinking red wine is good for your heart. But that's hardly a scientific study – it's more anecdotal, and some scientists are suspicious of French medical statistics, saying that it's possible some French doctors fail to record CHD as a contributing factor on death certificates. Sacre Bleu!

In principle, the French tucking in to meals of goose liver, rich cheeses, pastries and croissants (maybe not on the same plate) should result in their keeling over at quite a high rate. And yet, washing it all down with glasses of red wine seems to be an antidote.

Perhaps we can leave the French doctors and the world's scientists to duel at dawn – corkscrews at 20 paces.

The menu plays a big part. Image: Mike Bodnar

In the meantime, also supporting the influence of lifestyle is the Mediterranean diet. This shows that a diet that comprises a lot more fruit and vegetables is definitely healthier – no surprises there, we all need our five a day – but a scientific study showed that when combined with red wine the benefits multiply.

Remember at the start when I said the question 'Is red wine good for you?' isn't an easy one to ask? Now you're getting the picture; it's because no country's population anywhere simply survives on red wine alone. We don't have a red wine control group. There are always multiple factors at play, and that's the case in the Mediterranean countries where diet plays such an important role in the statistics.

The good news is that international studies are ongoing, and there's hardly a month goes by without new research revealing that red wine in certain contexts has demonstrable benefits. For example, a recent study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease shows there's link between our diet and preventing cognitive decline. 

The Iowa State University study revealed that cheese, by a significant factor, was the most protective food against age-related cognitive problems. For those of us of 'a certain age' the really welcoming news is that this even applies later in life. 

But wait, there's more! It gets better. Most of us know that cheese and wine are natural taste buddies, and I'm delighted to reveal that the same study into cheese's positive effects on cognitive decline also showed that a daily consumption of alcohol, notably red wine, resulted in improvements in cognitive function. Personally I usually find the opposite applies, but hey, I'm not going to argue with science.

Possible benefits for those 'of a certain age'. Image: Mike Bodnar

And the study was a seriously in-depth one, not something just swirled around and spat out. Data was collected from almost 1,800 'aging adults' in the UK over a 10-year period.

Auriel Willette, who's an assistant professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition at Iowa State, was quoted as saying, 'I was pleasantly surprised that our results suggest that responsibly eating cheese and drinking red wine daily are not just good for helping us cope with our current COVID-19 pandemic, but perhaps also dealing with an increasingly complex world that never seems to slow down.' 

Mr Willette went on to note, 'I believe the right food choices can prevent the disease (Alzheimer's) and cognitive decline altogether. Perhaps the silver bullet we're looking for is upgrading how we eat. Knowing what that entails contributes to a better understanding of Alzheimer's and putting this disease in a reverse trajectory.'

Those are big, robust and juicy claims to make, but I for one will be happy to carry on the research at home. Now, where's my cheese knife, and where did I put that corkscrew?

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