Wondering if Red Wine Really is Good for Your Heart?

While we have heard for years that red wine is good for our heart health, researchers have taken a deeper look to find out if it is really true. Medical experts say the idea probably got started in the late 1980s as a way to explain the low rate of heart disease in the French despite their love for cheese and other fatty foods.

Known as the “French Paradox,” scientists started studying the properties of red and purple grapes used to make red wines, which lead to the discovery of the beneficial plant compounds known as polyphenols including one called resveratrol. In addition research was done around the Mediterranean diet that also appears to lessen the risk for heart disease and strokes as it too includes drinking red wine.

However Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, says actual evidence to support red wine and heart health is not very strong and the research up to now has been more observational. In terms of resveratrol, studies vary on the benefits and doctors say at best you simply eat red and purple grapes. In fact doctors think that earlier studies touting the benefits of red wine did not take into account the other lifestyle habits of the French such as exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and diet. Another reason that points to red wine not offering all of the heart benefits we earlier thought is researchers say Japan has an even lower rate of heart disease than the French. In their case, they “drink a lot of beer and clear spirits, but hardly any red wine.”

Medical experts say the bottom line is if you enjoy wine, drink it in moderation. A serving of wine is 5 ounces so measure it out in your wine glasses as most are quite large. Moreover the older we get, we need to watch our consumption of alcohol. The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the American Geriatric Society recommend that starting at age 65, men especially should limit their alcohol use to no more than a single drink per day.

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Source:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/in-depth/red-wine/art-20048281#:~:text=Red%20wine%2C%20in%20moderation%2C%20has,that%20leads%20to%20heart%20attacks.