Archive: Around Town

How would you like to live forever - be young in mind and body - think more clearly - develop better motor skills - fend off Alzheimer’s disease - and many cancers - never develop cataracts - or a heart attack - or a stroke - because you’ll be reducing your cholesterol level - and your blood pressure - while maintaining smooth, unwrinkled skin and reducing stretch marks - as you shed pounds of ugly, quivering fat?

Sounds too good to be true?  Perhaps it is, but if you follow media hype about the health benefits of red grapes and red wine, no one could blame you for believing these claims. They come from published research results from medical schools all over the world. Reading them could easily lead you to believe that resveratrol is the 21st Century’s panacea.

So, what’s resveratrol?  It’s a naturally occurring phytochemical found in the skins of red grapes, and to a smaller extent in the vines, foliage, and seeds, but not in the fleshy pulp of the fruit. Resveratrol acts as part of the plant’s immune system that fights off fungal diseases. Since red wines are usually fermented in contact with the skins, they have much higher resveratrol levels than white wines. 

The amount of resveratrol varies according to the variety of the grape and where it is grown. Fungal diseases grow better in cool, damp climates and plants grown in areas prone to fungal disease produce higher levels of resveratrol to combat it. There is generally more resveratrol in Central and Northern New York grapes than those grown in California.

You’ve probably heard that the French are able to eat a lot more fat than Americans while benefiting from a lower rate of heart disease. This is usually attributed to the fact that French adults drink more red wine than we do and therefore ingest more resveratrol. Grape skins and seeds are also known to have a significant number of antioxidants and polyphenols. And, because grapes have a high fiber content, they make us feel full without adding a lot of calories. Have you noticed that there are a number of vitamins, skin cleansers, moisturizers, eye-creams and many other products that utilize the extracts of grape skins and seeds?

It seems appropriate to mention a possible benefit of wine itself: some studies show that drinking any alcoholic beverage, in moderation, helps clear the plaque from our arteries. This allows more blood to flow to the brain, which aids cognitive thinking. A recent Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study states that “New research reveals that moderate drinking may actually help you think better and faster. People who had one to six drinks per week were 55% less likely to show significant declines in cognitive function compared with those who abstained.”

But, let’s retain a modicum of skepticism when we contemplate all these health claims. Red wine has about 1.5 to 3 milligrams of resveratrol per liter. Based on the test results for reducing obesity, a 150-pound person would have to drink 750 to 1,500 bottles of red wine a day to get the equivalent dose that was fed to mice during the test. Nevertheless, the research is definitely promising when it pertains to our drinking of wine, particularly red wine, in moderation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In all the studies I reviewed for this column, the most effective amounts of wine or alcohol consumed never exceeded two glasses per day, and many respondents had progressively more adverse results, including the risk of stroke, as consumption of alcohol increased.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends that women and anyone over 65 have no more than one drink a day* and men who are 65 and younger should limit themselves to two drinks a day.

*One drink of wine is considered to be 4-5 ounces, the amount usually served in bars and restaurants, one drink of beer is 12-ounces and one drink of 80-proof distilled spirits is 1 to 1.5 ounces.

Next week I’m planning on offering some suggestions about pairing wines with food during the holidays.

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