As far as tannin and the other things reported to be good for you which is better Cabernet Sauvignon, or Merlot?
I’m not a wine lover but am interested in finding one of the red wines that may be good for me (one glass per day) that’s available in grocery stores. Hopefully under $20.00
I searched this site as well as Google & Pandia but turned up little more than “red wine is good for you because the French have a higher fat diet and less heart disease than Americans”
I did see another blip that said Oregon reds are better for you than California reds. It occurs to me that a lot of this could be marketing driven.
The bit about red wine being special probably derives from the fact that French people eat a high-fat diet yet have low heart disease rates (the “French Paradox”). The French also drink a lot of red wine. One hypothesis was that there is something in the red wine specifically that protects them against heart disease. And perhaps, went the hypothesis, the protective agent is the flavenoids found in red wine, which are known to be antioxidants.
In fact it’s much simpler that that. It is almost certainly the alcohol that provides the bulk of the benefit.
A drink or two of any alcoholic beverage cuts the risk of heart attack in half, by raising HDL levels. Wine, beer, and liquor are equally effective, red wine being no better than white, according to most studies. However, there is a chemical in grape skins (contained in red wine), resveratrol, a natural antifungal agent, which may be of additional benefit. Some studies indicate that red wine is more effective. In addition to containing resveratrol, it contains tannins, flavonoids, and antioxidants, which may be beneficial. ( * Remedy, * Nov/Dec 1998) * U. of Cal., Berkeley, Wellness Letter, * February 1999, notes also quercetin, a bioflavonoid, as possibly being beneficial. That source also states that a recent study indicates that grape juice is just as good, or even better, with the juice of red grapes being the best. March 16, 2000 issue of a release from the American College of Cardiology of he Mayo Clinic states that a recent study demonstrated that quercetin had a marked relaxation effect on the coronary arteries of rabbits. Quercetin is found also in fruits, vegetables, and tea.
A recent Danish study indicated that wine drinkers - independent of their alcohol consumption - possess the heart-healthiest habits, tending to eat more salads, more fish, more cooked vegetables, and more fruit. Wine drinkers also derived more of their dietary fat from olive oil, rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and they were the most likely to exercise, least likely to smoke, and least likely to be overweight. ( * Science News, * January 23, 1999)
So as to confuse the issue further, a study in the April 29,2000 issue of the * Lancet * finds that beer may be better than red wine. All alcohol raises levels of homocysteine, which is associated with heart disease and counters some of alcohol’s good effecs. However, beer also includes pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) which keeps homocysteine levels down.