Jin's Health tips

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Red Wine & the French Paradox


Heard of the French paradox? Wondering why albeit their high fat diet, the French still maintains a low mortality for heart diseases. This arouses the attention of scientists and they discovered that Red Wine is the answer.



Picture taken from telegraph.co.uk

Red wine contains many antioxidants which prevent the free radicals from attacking the healthy cells. The most studied antioxidant Resveratol, a derivation of grape skin and seeds, has been scientifically proven for the prevention of heart disease and cancer. On the contrary, white wine contains less Resveratol than red wine because the skins of the grapes are removed during the wine making process.

Resveratol prevents the blood clots from forming. This would allow a good flow of blood, supplying oxygen efficiently to all parts of the body. When blood clots are formed, ischemia(lack of oxygen) would occur. If ischemia occurs in vessels near the brain or heart, it might cause a stroke or a heart attack.

If you have read my article on Cholesterol, you would know that Low-density lipoprotein(LDL) are the bad cholesterol that you would not want too much of them in the body. These LDL cause plaque in the arteries which results in atherosclerosis. What Resveratol does is that it prevents the oxidation of LDL and thus preventing the formation of plaques.

Resveratol also has anti-cancer properties as it has the ability to neutralize the free radicals. Research has shown that Resveratol can cause the apoptosis(self destruction) of certain cancer cells. It can also suppress the formation of tumor by preventing the formation of new blood vessels around the tumor. Hence, cutting of the supply of nutrients to the tumor.

If alcohol is part of your daily diet, Jin's Health tips suggests that you make red wine your choice. Recommended consumption is a glass of red wine daily for women and two glasses for the men. It's important to note that over consumption of alcohol has detrimental effects to the body, especially the liver.

For people who don't drink, please do not start drinking red wine because grape is definitely the better choice as does not contain alcohol at all.

If you have any queries, do feel free to email Jin's Health tips at tanjinlin@gmail.com

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