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Alcohol & Health

Medicinal benefits of wine

Send Wine, Not Flowers

By Dr. W. Gifford Jones

Have you ever wondered what to take to a friend in hospital? Possibly a book to help pass the time? Or flowers to brighten up a dreary hospital room? Well, think again. The French have the right idea. Send a bottle of red Bordeaux wine.

Dr. Serge Renaud, research director at the University of Bordeaux, is also a world authority on the medicinal benefits of wine.

Dr Renaud recently addressed the International Conference on Preventive Cardiology meeting in Montreal. He reported on a study of 35,000 middle©aged men living in eastern France who were followed for 12 years.

His findings? Those who drank up to five glasses of wine a day decreased their risk of dying from heart disease by more than 30 percent.

I've reported before the health benefits of wine. But his study contained several surprises.

Earlier studies indicated that red wine had a greater protective effect on the heart than white wine. But Renaud's investigation revealed health benefits equally as good for those who drank white wine. He claims there's no need to switch to red wine if you prefer white.

Another interesting findings showed that those who drank moderate amounts of wine had a reduced incidence of all types of cancer.

But there are also limits to wine's beneficial effects. The cancer rate starts to increase for those who consume six or more glasses of wine a day.

This increase may not be due totally to the greater intake of wine. Renaud claims that heavy wine drinkers are also often heavy smokers which may explain the increased rate of cancer.

Earlier this year France's National Institute of Health and Scientific Research reported other good news about wine. A study suggested that elderly people who drink moderate amounts of wine are less likely to suffer from senility and Alzheimer's Disease than teetotallers.

It's always been puzzling that the high©living French can consume a diet rich in saturated fats, eat more cheese, smoke more, yet suffer from fewer heart attacks. Œ™Á The good news is it's not spinach that is cardio©protective, but their increased consumption of wine.

But how does wine protect drinkers from coronary attack, cancer and possibly senility? It's due to a combination of factors.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago discovered a substance unique to grapes called "resveratrol". Á It's believed that resveratrol helps to decrease the risk of cells becoming malignant. And possibly inhibits the spread of malignant cells.

A glass of wine is also a powerful antioxidant that helps to eliminate free radicals. Free radicals are believed to cause ageing and degenerative problems such as heart disease and cancer. It's oxidation that turns butter rancid and causes steel to rust. Á Vitamin E and C are also antioxidants. But the flavonoids present in red wine are 20 times more numerous than those in white wine. And their antioxidant effect is 10 to 20 times greater than vitamin E.

Wine dilates blood vessels. Phenols present in wine makes platelets slippery and less likely to stick together forming a fatal coronary blood clot. And wine decreases the amount of fibrinogen in the blood, a small particle associated with the clotting process.

Moderate drinking increases the high density lipoproteins (HDL) the good cholesterol that removes excess cholesterol from the blood. The less cholesterol the less hardening of the arteries and the less risk of degenerative brain disease.

Never forget the relaxing effect of wine. Years ago I was asked to see a 93 year old minister who was ill and house bound with little interest in living.

He was taking a large assortment of medication. I advised him to stop 90 percent of his pills and take instead five ounces of wine before lunch and the evening meal. A week later he was once again walking around his neighbourhood, talking to friends.

The problem is that doctors are loathe to preach the medicinal benefits of moderate drinking. They argue that by so doing some people will drink excessively. Resulting in cirrhosis, hypertension, drunken drivers and chaos in their own families.

I can't deny that fact. Obviously, if you can't drink moderately, don't drink. But if you can enjoy a glass or two of wine, knowing when enough is enough, it's one of life's great pleasures. That's why the French are right. Send a bottle of French Bordeaux, not flowers.


W. Gifford-Jones M.D is the pen name of Dr. Ken Walker graduate of Harvard. Dr. Walker's website is: Docgiff.com

My book, �90 + How I Got There� can be obtained by sending $19.95 to:

Giff Holdings, 525 Balliol St, Unit # 6,Toronto, Ontario, M4S 1E1

Pre-2008 articles by Gifford Jones
Canada Free Press, CFP Editor Judi McLeod