Heavy Metals in Euro wines

[ntx_man]

Just got this...

<div ="print-title">Euro wines carrying potentially dangerous levels of heavy
metals</font>
<div ="print-submitted">By admin</font>
<div ="print-created">Created 10/30/2008 - 15:44</font>



<div ="print-taxonomy">
<ul ="s"> <li ="first taxonomy_term_1997">europe
<li ="taxonomy_term_1148">Health
<li ="taxonomy_term_2299"><a href="http://www.nbr.co.nz/category/category/heavy-metals" target="_blank">heavy
metals</a>
<li ="taxonomy_term_1735">well-being
<li ="last taxonomy_term_948">Wine
</font>[/list]

<div ="field field--text field-field-byline">
<div ="field-items">
<div ="field-item">NBR staff</font>


UK researchers have discovered most European wine nations are exporting red
and white wines with potentially dangerous levels of at least seven heavy metals
reports WebMD.</font>


The findings appear in the Oct. 29 issue of Chemistry Central
Journal.</font>


One glass of wine per day could end up more costly than you imagined
according to Kingston University in London scientists Declan Naughton and Andrea
Petroczi.</font>


The US Environmental Protection Agency has designed a measure of ‘target
hazard quotients’ (THQs) to determine the safe levels of frequent, long-term
exposure to various chemicals, which Naughton calculated for 15 wines from
Europe, the Middle East, and South America.</font>


Typical wines have a THQ ranging from 50 to 200 per glass with some up 300,
while in comparison seafood THQs that typically range between 1 and 5 have
raised concerns about heavy-metal contamination.</font>


A THQ over 1 indicates a health risk.</font>


"I was surprised at this finding, and would be very interested if regulatory
authorities and food-safety people will look at this. The wine industry should
look at ways to remove these metals from wine, or to find out where the metals
come from and prevent this from happening", Mr Naughton said to
WebMD.</font>


Vanadium, copper and manganese accounted for the majority of contamination,
but zinc, chromium, lead and nickel were also found with THQs over 1.</font>


University of Rochester, N.Y behavioral neurotoxicologist Bernard Weiss, PhD
is most worried about the effects of one metal in particular – manganese, which
accumulates in the brain and has been linked to Parkinson’s disease.</font>


"From the point of view of just one of these metals in wine, manganese, I
would be concerned. Any time you see numbers like they have in this study, you
begin to scratch your head and wonder about the effects over a long period of
ingestion: Not one glass of wine last Tuesday, but a glass a day over a
lifetime”, Mr Weiss said to WebMD.</font>


Italy, Brazil and Argentina however, were found to have safe levels of heavy
metals.</font>


The worst level of THQs were found in wines from these countries:</font>


• Hungary
• Slovakia
• France
• Austria
• Spain
• Germany
•
Portugal
• Greece
• Czech Republic
• Jordan
• Macedonia
•
Serbia</font>


France, Austria, Spain, Germany, and Portugal’s maximum potential THQ values
were over 100, while Hungary and Slovakia had maximum potential THQ values over
350.</font>


Argentinean and Italian wines had no significant maximum THQ values.</font>


"If you buy a bottle of wine, the only thing it tells you on the label is the
amount of alcohol. I like the idea of labeling wines with the amounts of heavy
metals they contain. Many wines don't have these metals. So let customers vote
by choice whether they want the heavy metals", Naughton said to
WebMD.</font>


Possible sources for the heavy metal contamination include the soil of the
vineyards, fungicides used, and contaminants in the fermenting yeasts.</font>


Naughton and Petroczi calculated THQs from data published in scientific
journals rather than directly measuring the wines. They also point out that
drinking red wine has been linked to health benefits because of its
antioxidants.</font>


"However, the finding of hazardous levels of metal ions which can be
pro-oxidants leads to a major question mark over the protective benefits of red
wine," they suggest.</font>

 

[PeterZ]

I would much have preferred that this article listed the actual parts per billion (ppb) content of the various heavy metals in the wines. I don't know what these "THQ" values are, nor what level is considered harmful. Given the way various US government agencies "cook the books" to push an agenda, I do not trust THQ.


Lead is only harmful in small quantities to infants in the first 4 years of growth, when the brain is developing. Adults can tolerate 100x the lead levels that infants can.


The idea that manganese (Mn) causes Parkinson's is unproven. You may recall several years ago when analysis of the brains of people who died of Alzheimer's had elevated levels of aluminum (Al). There was a panic to stop using Al cookware because "Al causes Alzheimer's." It was later determined that something in the brain chemistry of an Alzheimer's victim accumulated Al, not the other way around. I suspect it will be shown that Parkinson's has a similar effect with Mn.


Nothing in this article would make me stop drinking European wine, nor stop making kits made from European grapes.Edited by: PeterZ

 

[Dean]

Peter I agree with you 110%! Besides, if you look at the site being mentioned, WebMD, you'd know the site is based on scaring people. They've got some good information on these web medical sites, however, a lot of them like to spread FUD (Fear, uncertainty, & Doubt).

 

[Joseph1]

The article appearing in The National Business Review had the following comments by Tom Natan owner of First Vine Wine Imports and Sales, an importer of French wines.<?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

“The THQ is based on a hypothesis that says that there is a threshold below which no effects occur (1.0). This isn't necessarily the case, but that's the way they were developed.

There is a serious flaw in the WebMD article and this one -- a single glass of wine does not have a THQ of 100 or 300. The way the EPA guidelines are constructed, a 150-pound man drinking a glass of wine every day over 70 years will give you the THQ listed in the article. But inherently, a glass of wine doesn't have that TEQ -- which is a combination of inherent toxicity AND exposure.

The northern hemisphere is more polluted in general than the southern hemisphere, because it industrialized first. A potential cause of the contamination is that airborne metals travel northward due to prevailing winds, and then settle out on the soil. Once the southern hemisphere develops further, we will likely see the same thing happening there.

I'd like to see links to the actual data used here, and there's no indication of when the measurements were made.”


The headline for the same story in the Barchester News was: “Wine drinking linked to Parkinson's disease”