Why is red wine good for the heart?
Red wine has long been thought to be healthy for the heart. Some researchers have suggested that red wine has manu health benefits such as reducing your risk of heart disease and many cancers, this all became apparent with the so called French paradox. The French are regular drinkers of red wine and have relatively high amounts of saturated fat in their diet such as oil. Despite this fat intake, the French have lower rates of heart disease than many other countries and live longer.
This might sound great to most alcohol drinkers, but for most you might only enjoy a glass of red wine with your evening meal. Doctors are wary of encouraging anyone to drink alcohol because too much alcohol can have a host of harmful effects on your body which will out weigh the benefits.
But despite the caution, doctors and scientists do agree that something in red wine appears to help your heart, though it’s unclear just exactly what it is. Recent research has highlighted a substance called resveratrol, which is found in the seeds and skin of grapes used to make wine, this has promising heart-healthy benefits. If you are wondering, Red Wine has more resveratrol than White Wine because the processes of making white wine is different and the skin is removed. But Resveratrol isn’t the only substance in red wine that looks promising. The actual alcohol in red wine also appears to be heart healthy as it Raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the “good” cholesterol.
Resveratrol in red wine
Some researchers believe that resveratrol might be the key ingredient in red wine that helps prevent damage to blood vessels, and reduces the bad cholesterol and prevents blood clots which can lead to heart disease and heart attacks.
Research has taken place where mice were given resveratrol and it has indicated that the antioxidant might also help protect them from obesity and diabetes, which you might think is a conincidence, is very low in france. Diabetes is a strong factor for heart disease. However, those findings were reported only in mice, not in people. In addition, to achieve the dose of resveratrol used in the mice studies, a person would have to consume 100 to 1,000 bottles of red wine a day.
Drink in moderation
Red wine’s potential heart-health benefits look very promising. Those who drink moderate amounts of alcohol, including red wine, seem to have a lower risk of heart disease.
However The Heart Association doesn’t recommend that you start drinking alcohol just to prevent heart disease because alcohol can be very addictive. Too much alcohol increases your risk of high triglycerides, high blood pressure, liver damage, obesity and certain types of cancer. In addition, even small amounts of alcohol can cause a weakened heart muscle and heart failure in some people but the risk is very low. If you have heart failure or a weak heart you should avoid alcohol completely.
If you already drink red wine, dont think you are going to live till your 100 by drinking more. Moderate drinking is defined as an average of 2 units a day for men and one drink a day for women.
