The Benefits of Red Wine

---

Q: I read in a magazine that red wine is good for my heart. What does it have that white wine doesn't?

A: Belief in the medicinal value of wine is as old as wine itself. The Pharmacopoeia of the United States of America, sixth decennial revision, published in 1882, has listings for 14 different preparations of wine, from vinum album, or white wine, made "from the unmodified juice of the grape, freed from seeds, stems, and skins," to vinum rubrum, or red wine, made "by fermenting the juice of colored grapes in presence of their skins."

The answer to your question lies in these grape skins.

The deep, beautiful purple-red color of red wine is produced by a substance called anthocyanin, which is found in the skin of the grape. In addition to the color of red wine, we can thank anthocyanins for the deep red-purple-black color of black olives; and the berry-red color of strawberries, cherries, and raspberries.

Anthocyanin is one of the four main groups of chemicals that together are called flavonoids. Found in many plants and especially in deeply colored fruits and vegetables, flavonoids are important chemicals in plants.

Drink in the Flavonoids

Research has shown many potential medical uses for flavonoids. For example, they regulate cell growth, function as antioxidants, reduce inflammation, and prevent blood clots.

Red wine may also reduce oxidative stress caused by increased blood glucose levels after meals, according to Antonio Ceriello, MD, and associates. In a research letter published in the December 1999 issue of Diabetes Care, Dr. Ceriello and associates presented data showing that consumption of two 5-ounce glasses of red wine with a meal by subjects with type 2 diabetes significantly reduced the compounds produced by the test meal that could cause vascular damage by the mechanism of "oxidative stress." (Oxidation of LDL "bad" cholesterol causes fatty buildup in the arteries.)

White Pales in Comparison

The protective activity of white wine was only about 20 percent that of red wine.

In a recent review article (Diabetes Care, May 2003), Dr. Ceriello suggests that large clinical trials have shown that antioxidant supplements such as vitamin E do not reduce coronary heart disease mortality or the damage caused by previously formed "oxidation products."

However, Dr. Ceriello also believes the antioxidant power of flavonoid-rich foods such as red wine, apples, onions, green tea, and other deeply colored foods may protect against the causes of oxidative damage when they are consumed daily as part of a healthy lifestyle. Only future research will settle this matter for good.

Is a daily diet of multicolored fruits, nuts, and vegetables, delightfully consumed with red wine or green tea, "good for the heart?"

If you're a scientist at heart, the answer is "probably, but let's see more data."

But if you're a poet at heart, you already know the answer.

Sheldon H. Gottlieb, MD, FACC, is a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Department of Cardiology, in Baltimore, Md. He also directs the Diabetes–Heart Failure Program at Johns Hopkins HealthCare, LLC.