Red Wine - A Winner Again In Health

Red wine provides many other benefits beyond resveratrol in the form called polyphenols. A 12 year study published in the British Medical Journal4 in May 1995 following over 13,000 men and women aged 30 - 70 indicated those who drank hard liquor had a 34% increase in mortality versus those who drank 3 - 5 glasses of wine having a 49% reduction in all cause mortality compared to those who never drank wine. There are no drugs or surgeries capable of this dramatic reduction.

There were a few other interesting studies in the recent news. At a presentation of the American Psychosomatic Society in Budapest, Hungary, researchers noted that people with lower blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids were more prone to have a negative outlook and to be more impulsive. Those with higher levels, however, were generally more agreeable and less likely to have a sour mood. The researchers noted that the findings hinted that omega-3 fatty acids may contribute to structural improvement in areas of the brain related to emotion.

There was also a small but interesting study published in the March 2007 edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine regarding fiber. The study involved 35 participants, 18 of them were lean and had normal blood pressure while 17 were obese and hypertensive. The ages ranged between 18 to 49 years old. The group was randomized to receive either high fiber (30 grams a day) special diet called "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension" (DASH) or a fiber supplemented diet with 30 grams of fiber per day. It was found that, overall, the mean C reactive protein (CRP) dropped from 4.4 to either 3.8 or 3.6, depending on which diet was utilized. However, in the 18 lean individuals with normal pressure, their C reactive protein dropped from 2 to as low as 1.2 which was also statistically significant.