Wine and Health-Part 2

This is Part 2 of the article Wine and Health by Frank Cabunoc, guest blogger from Fairfield, California. Frank is a wine aficionado and indeed a true oenophile.

In over 400 studies conducted around the world, many of them long-term and in large populations, they have concluded that most healthy people who drink wine regularly and moderately live longer. The only group exception, whose members should not consume any alcohol, is pre-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer.

Wine’s nutritional content is minimal, inasmuch as there is no fat, cholesterol, or dietary fiber in any wine. It is only with excessive drinking would anyone reach their Minimum Daily Requirement for calories, carbohydrates, sodium, protein, vitamins or minerals, all of which all wines contain insignificantly. Each one’s specific content varies between types of wine, based upon color, alcoholic strength and residual sugar. The key to the beneficial aspects of drinking wine are regularity and moderation. The importance of this consumption pattern cannot be over emphasized. An occasional serving of wine is better than none, but overindulgence can be considerably more harmful than total abstinence.

Regular moderate wine drinking was discovered to be the one consistency. Studies in England found the occurrence of coronary disease to be much higher in heavy or binge drinkers and even higher in abstainers. It is very important to note that Europeans generally drink wine and water with their meals.

Wine is not a cure-all and not everyone should drink wine. There are instances when no one should drink any alcohol. When combined with specific over-the-counter or prescription drugs, for example, alcohol in any form can produce an adverse reaction. Wine should not be furnished to people with inflammations of the digestive tract, peptic ulcers, liver disease, pancreatitis, kidney or urinary infections, prostate disorders, epilepsy, or alcoholism. As mentioned earlier, pre-menopausal women with a family history of breast cancer should abstain from drinking any alcohol, including wine.

Excessive drinking or overindulgence is possibly the worst health problem of consuming wine or any alcoholic beverage. Ingesting too much ethanol at one time will cause headaches, nausea, and other symptoms for anyone, regardless of individual tolerance to other compounds in wine. Drinking alcohol too much or too fast leads to loss of control and judgment. A couple of glasses of wine may help relaxation and lower blood pressure, but four or more raises blood pressure to a level of concern.

When wine is consumed, alcohol enters the bloodstream while it passes from the stomach to the small intestine and continues to the liver which uses an enzyme called dehydrogenase to break down and eliminate alcohol from the body. Medical evidence suggests factors of body size; muscle mass, food intake, gender, and experience affect one's capacity to avoid drunkenness to some degree. On average, a healthy human can metabolize one-half ounce of alcohol per hour. The best rule to follow is to not consume more than one drink or 4 ounces of wine per hour, regardless of size, sex, or a full stomach.

Whenever it is practiced in moderation and consumed with food at mealtime, wine drinking may develop cultural and sociological patterns that actually help to prevent alcoholism. The vast majority of healthy individuals may enjoy wine regularly and moderately as a pleasure that supports and prolongs a gracious life. Here's another video on benefits of wine in moderation.

Note: I agree with the last sentence(in bold). If you are a beer drinker, could you site an article on the health benefits of beer. Again, here's my toast to you all my readers, Salud, Peseta y Amor!( Health, Money and Love).!