All the proof you need;
Polyphenols already identified in benefits of red wine to prevent cancer<?
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ate Month="3" Day="18" Year="2005">March 18, 2005</st1
ate> – Drinking two to three glasses of red wine daily is good for the heart, says a Yale School of Medicine researcher. But he says it may be due to polyphenols in the wine, rather than the alcohol. Polyphenols in red wine have also been identified for helping prevent cancer.
"The current consensus is that it is not just the alcohol, but something else," said Bauer Sumpio, M.D., professor and section chief of vascular surgery in the Department of Surgery. "There are probably several mechanisms of protection from a cardiovascular viewpoint."
He said researchers have been trying to pinpoint why red wine has a cardiovascular protective effect ever since the discovery of the so-called "French Paradox" in 1992 when researchers found a 40 percent lower mortality rate from ischemic heart disease among people in France despite the high amount of saturated fats in their diet.
Sumpio said there are several studies showing drinking two to three ounces of alcohol each day has a beneficial effect, but any more than that and the alcohol begins to have a negative health effect. Studies comparing spirits, beer and wine show some benefit from spirits and beer, but an overwhelming benefit from drinking red wine.
His laboratory found polyphenols, minus the alcohol, are powerful anti-oxidants.
Polyphenols also are found in fruit, particularly berries, as well as green tea and chocolate. Anti-oxidants slow cell deterioration. The polyphenols also help prevent the build up of plaque on the smooth muscle cells, as well as inhibit platelet formation, which can lead to blood clotting.
"A better understanding of the health benefits of red wine and perhaps the specific polyphenolic extracts with the described properties would be a great contribution to society," Sumpio said.
The study is published in the Journal of <st1
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of Surgeons - Co-authors Alfredo Cordova, M.D., La Scienya Jackson, M.D., and David Berke-Schlessel, of Yale. The research was supported in part by the North American Foundation for Limb Preservation.
Women Should Drink Wine for Healthy Heart, Another Study Says
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ate Month="2" Day="15" Year="2005">Feb. 15, 2005</st1
ate> - Drinking wine, but not beer or spirits, keeps women's hearts beating healthily finds new research of women, including seniors up to 75, in
Heart. It is another of several recent studies pointing to wine having significant benefits for women.
Much of the research on the potential health benefits of alcohol has been done on men, and it is still not clear exactly why moderate amounts of wine seems to be good for heart health.
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that alcohol consumption is positively related to heart rate variability (HRV) in coronary heart disease (CHD) and therefore that cardiac autonomic activity is potentially implicated in mediating the favorable effects of moderate drinking.
Heart rate variability (HRV), the amount of fluctuation of the beat-to-beat differences, is known to be a reliable, noninvasive marker of autonomic nervous system activity, according to this Swedish research team. Decreased variability has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and death.
“In this study of women with CHD we found that wine intake was associated with increased HRV independently of the potential confounding factors and of the intake of other beverages. In contrast, consumption of beer and spirits or the total amount of alcohol consumed did not relate significantly to any of the HRV parameters,” the authors say.
They studied 102 women under the age of 75, all survivors of a heart attack or heart surgery for blocked arteries. All participants were asked to record their alcohol intake for one week after a year. And after at least a year, a heart tracing (ECG) was taken over 24 hours during routine activities in all the participants, to test heart rate variability or HRV.
HRV was highest in women who drank 5 or more grams of alcohol a day, equivalent to more than half a standard unit, and lowest in those who drank no alcohol at all.
But further analysis showed that the type of alcohol consumed was important.
HRV was highest among women who drank wine, even after taking account of other influential factors, such as age, weight, and smoking habit. Beer and spirits had little impact on HRV.
The favorable effects on HRV may be one of the reasons why wine protects heart health, suggest the authors.
About the Study
“Compelling epidemiological evidence suggests that moderate intake of alcoholic beverages, especially wine, is associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) morbidity and mortality,” say authors.
“Furthermore, moderate alcohol intake is related to reduced mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Mechanisms of this favourable effect of alcoholic beverages are not entirely clear; however, they may include increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations, improved coagulation profile, lower levels of inflammation, greater insulin sensitivity, better endothelial function, reduced endothelin 1 synthesis, low density lipoprotein oxidation, and smooth muscle proliferation.”
Heart rate variability (HRV), the amount of fluctuation of the beat-to-beat differences, is known to be a reliable, noninvasive marker of autonomic nervous system activity, they say.
Decrease in HRV has been found to predict CHD morbidity and mortality in apparently healthy populations and in patients after an acute coronary event.
Relatively few studies have examined the associations between drinking habits and HRV parameters, and the results are conflicting.
The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that alcohol consumption is positively related to HRV in CHD and therefore that cardiac autonomic activity is potentially implicated in mediating the favorable effects of moderate drinking.
We assessed total alcohol consumption, consumption of different types of alcoholic beverages, and time and frequency domain parameters of HRV by using ambulatory ECG monitoring in women with CHD.
What the authors say:
In this study of women with CHD we found that wine intake was associated with increased HRV independently of the potential confounding factors and of the intake of other beverages. In contrast, consumption of beer and spirits or the total amount of alcohol consumed did not relate significantly to any of the HRV parameters.
Convincing evidence suggests that alcohol consumption at moderate levels decreases CHD morbidity and mortality.
Moreover, recent studies found lower mortality after myocardial infarction among patients with moderate alcohol intake. Why moderate alcohol intake is associated inversely with CHD is not completely clear.
A positive effect of alcohol on lipid profile is consistently reported. For instance, Langer and colleagues claimed that about half of the observed protection against CHD afforded by moderate alcohol consumption is mediated by an increase in high density lipoprotein.
Other candidates for the favorable effect are decreased fibrinogen, decreased platelet activity, lower levels of inflammation, greater insulin sensitivity, better endothelial function, reduced endothelin 1 synthesis, reduced low density lipoprotein oxidation, and smooth muscle proliferation.
Given the compelling evidence that decreased HRV is an independent predictor of CHD mortality,– the present findings suggest that an increase in HRV may be a potential pathway for the protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on CHD.
Whether the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on CHD is attributable to ethanol alone or if there are beverage specific differences is debated.
A recent review concluded that wine drinkers are at a decreased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with non-wine drinkers, whereas other meta-analyses found that wine drinking confers no particular benefit. However, in this study wine was the only independent determinant of HRV among the alcoholic beverages, suggesting that only wine may have favorable effects mediated by this pathway.
Authors’ affiliations
I. Janszky, M Blom, A Georgiades, H Alinagizadeh, S Ahnve, Preventive Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institute, and Centre of Public Health, Stockholm County Council, Stockholm, Sweden
M. Ericson, Department of Industrial Economics, Royal Institute of Technology, <st1
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