*Warning Drinking too much of any Alcoholic product is not healthy and can cause adverse reactions*
Before we jump into why wine is good for you, let’s get to know wine a little more. Wine is made from fermented grapes or other fruits. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, water, or other nutrients. Yeast consumes the sugars in the grapes and converts them into ethanol and carbon dioxide. Which countries produce the most wine? Here’s a list of the top 10: Italy, France, Spain, United States, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Germany, Chile, & Portugal. The term bouquet refers to the total scent of the wine. Aroma is the scent of the grapes. When wine tasters want to describe the bouquet and the aroma together, they use the term nose. As white wines age, they gain color. Red wines, on the other hand, lose color as they age. To analyze your glass of wine, hold the glass on an angle in front of a white background, such as a napkin or tablecloth. White wines can range from a pale yellow-green to a brownish hue. Reds begin at purple and scale all the way to brown.
Now to the good part… What are the benefits to wine? Red wine, in moderation, has long been thought of as heart healthy. The alcohol and certain substances in red wine called antioxidants may help prevent heart disease by increasing levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol) and protecting against artery damage. While the news about red wine might sound great if you enjoy a glass of red wine with your evening meal, doctors are wary of encouraging anyone to start drinking alcohol. That’s because too much alcohol can have many harmful effects on your body.
Still, many doctors agree that something in red wine appears to help your heart. It’s possible that antioxidants, such as flavonoids or a substance called resveratrol, have heart-healthy benefits. Antioxidants in red wine called polyphenols may help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart. A polyphenol called resveratrol is one substance in red wine that’s gotten attention. Resveratrol might be a key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, reduces low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) and prevents blood clots. Research in mice given resveratrol suggests that the antioxidant might also help protect them from obesity and diabetes, both of which are strong risk factors for heart disease.
Also, Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one drink or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all. In one British study, those who drank roughly a glass of wine a day reduced by 11% their risk of infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, a major cause of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancers. As little as half a glass may also guard against food poisoning caused by germs like salmonella when people are exposed to contaminated food, according to a Spanish study. When Australian researchers recently compared women with ovarian cancer to cancer-free women, they found that roughly one glass of wine a day seemed to reduce the risk of the disease by as much as 50 percent. Earlier research at the University of Hawaii produced similar findings. Experts suspect this may be due to antioxidants or phytoestrogens, which have high anticancer properties and are prevalent in wine.
And in a recent University of Michigan study, a red wine compound helped kill ovarian cancer cells in a test tube. On average, women who drink moderately seems to have higher bone mass than abstainers. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; the hormone seems to slow the body’s destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone. Premenopausal women who drink one or two glasses of wine a day are 40 percent less likely than women who do not drink to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a 10-year study by Harvard Medical School. While the reasons aren’t clear, wine seems to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients. With many benefiting health factors Red wine can help you be a healthier you.
Just as a consumer warning: A recent lawsuit warns consumer that Cheap Wines may have arsenic in them. For example Two-Buck Chuck” and a box of Franzia White Zinfandel may contain more arsenic than what’s widely considered safe, according to a lawsuit filed a couple of weeks ago and dozens of other cheap and popular California labels — actually pose a health risk isn’t entirely clear. Los Angeles Superior Court lists 83 wines that had levels of arsenic much higher than what’s considered safe for consumption, at least by drinking water standards. The suit names more than two dozen California wine producers, including the makers of Trader Joe’s Charles Shaw White Zinfandel — popularly known as Two-Buck Chuck — and other well-known brands from Sutter Home, Beringer, Fetzer and Korbel. So, the best advice is to stay away from the following list to receive the added health benefits of wine. http://www.taintedwine.com/test-results