Is Red Wine Good for the Heart

The discussion about the antioxidant resveratrol has prompted many people to wonder "Is red wine good for the heart?"

Drinking red wine has its benefits!

There have been several studies done on red wine to determine whether it has any health benefits. Should everyone start drinking red wine, or are there other ways to reap these benefits? According to researchers at the University of Rochester, there are beneficial flavenoids present in red wine. These flavenoids, which are most prevalent in dry red wines, may inhibit tumor development in pancreatic cancer, other cancers and Alzheimer's disease. The specific flavenoid present in red wine and the skins of red grapes that is attributed to these health benefits is resveratrol. Resveratrol protects grapes and grape vines from fungus and bacteria growth.

One of the biggest questions people have is how much red wine do you have to drink in order to reap the benefits of resveratrol. Physicians will advise against beginning to drink wine just to benefit from resveratrol. However, if you already drink alcohol, the following guidelines apply:

• Men- should drink only one or two, four-ounce glasses of wine per day
• Women – should drink only one, four-ounce glass of wine per day

If you drink three or more glasses of wine per day, it increases the risk of elevated serum triglycerides in the bloodstream.

People can reap the benefits of resveratrol without drinking red wine. You can find it in a supplemental form at many health stores. In addition, researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that resveratrol is present in grape juice. At the University of California at Davis, researchers found that resveratrol was also present in non-alcoholic red wine.

Since you can find resveratrol in other sources, there is no need for people to begin drinking alcohol in order to reap the benefits.

While there appear to be benefits to ingesting resveratrol, how much is too much? According to Xi-Zhao Wilson, PhD, each ounce of red wine contains 90 micrograms of resveratrol. Therefore, a four-ounce glass of red wine would contain 360 micrograms of resveratrol.

There is concern over people taking the resveratrol supplement, however. The supplements are often sold as 20mg capsules. These capsules contain approximately 220 times the amount of resveratrol found in a glass of red wine. This could also be translated to roughly 41 glasses of red wine.

The good news is that there don't appear to be any negative side effects to ingesting larger quantities of the resveratrol in supplement form. In fact, the results show a slowing of the degenerative effects of aging in human cells.

Research is currently underway to determine whether white wine skins may also include a healthy amount of resveratrol. The University of Connecticut School of Medicine, in conjunction with the University of Milan, has been studying the skin and pulp of both red and white grapes to determine the levels of resveratrol present in each. Early research findings indicate that the flesh of the grapes may have equal quantities of the antioxidant resveratrol. This would be good news for those who favor drinking white wines over red.

Physicians warn against drinking too much red wine, since the benefits can be counteracted when it is consumed in large amounts. For example, drinking too much wine can increase the risk of the following conditions, according to the American Association of Family Physicians:

• Alcoholism
• Liver Disease
• Pancreatic Disease
• Cardiovascular Disease
• Gastrointestinal problems
• Neurological Disorders
• Cancer
• Psychiatric problems
• Reproductive problems

For those still pondering "Is red wine good for the heart," the answer is "yes, in moderation." People can reap some health benefits from drinking red wine. Alternatively, individuals may choose to take a resveratrol supplement, drink grape juice or non-alcoholic red wine and reap the same benefits.

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