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You’ve heard that red wine is good for your heart, but what kinds of red wine? Roger Corder, a professor and expert in cardiovascular function, tells you in a new book, “The Red Wine Diet: Drink Wine Every Day and Live a Long and Healthy Life.”
Madiran, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Barolo and a number of other big reds are best for you, Corder says. The more dark color, the more extracted flavors, the better. Where can I find a Madiran?
Is Pinot Noir good, too? Sometimes. But it can be too wimpy in the department that matters most for your health, according to Corder. Rose? Not really. White wine? Hardly. These don’t have the stuffing they need to rate highly in Corder’s scheme of things.
Am I ready to give up the glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Viognier that I drink while chopping onions and mincing garlic to start dinner? Should I cut back on Pinot Noir and find an importer of Madiran to lower my risk of heart disease, diabletes and high blood pressure? I wouldn’t have thought so, but then I met Dr. Corder last week and read portions of his book.
The secret to the healthful effects are compounds called procyanidins, and they come from the grape skins. Madiran is a wine made in the Gascony region of the southwest of France from the Tannat grape, which has thick skins full of pigment and flavor compounds and those same characteristics promote the procyanidins, says Corder.
He should know, as a medical doctor and a cardiovascular expert at the William Harvey Research Institute in London. His book, the “Red Wine Diet” made a significant stir a year ago in the U.K. when it was published there.
Corder said he began his research by identifying regions of the world where people lived the longest, and soon zeroed in on the Gers area of the southwest of France where despite diets heavy with cassoulet, foie gras and other foods full of artery clogging animal fat, the local population lives very long lives. Gers has double the national average of men aged 90 or more, Corder found. And what wine do they drink?
“The wines are the most procyanidin-rich I have encountered,” he writes. “The explanation seems to be the Tannat grape, which is grown widely there.”
He’s getting more attention here in the U.S. for the book resulting from a publicity tour last week. He debunks the theory popularized largely by Dr. Curtis Ellison of the U.S. that the heart-healthy effects of wine come largely from the alcohol alone.
He also debunks the importance of the ingredient resveratrol in the observed increase in longevity of people who regularly drink red wines, highlighting the massive quantities of this natural substance in wine that you would have to consume to enjoy the benefits.
Corder calculates that procyanidins are in high enough concentration in the right type of red wine that a normal glass or two a day provides the ideal dose.
I can’t wait to read the book more thoroughly, because as I flipped through and read numerous passages they all seemed to be meaty for knowledgeable wine drinkers, winemakers and people in the wine trade. It’s not simply pro-wine propaganda. Corder goes to great lengths to suggest foods like cranberries, walnuts and pomegrantates that provide lots of procyanidins, and he give a nice, reassuring interpretation of what are the best dietary habits in general to help you live long and prosper.
Corder’s website for the book is a good place to find out more. And the book has a pretty extensive list of individual heart-healthy wines, which he rates on a five-heart scale. These are wines that he likes that also have high procyanidin content based on his lab tests. Red wines that undergo a long fermentation and long maceration period have the most.
Hhhmmm, Madiran. I know the wine district of that name is near Bordeaux. I haven’t drunk one of those in years. I’d like to hear from people who have. What do you like about them, how did you hear about them, and how do they age?
Filed under: Health & Diet
6 Comments
November 15th, 2007 at 2:47:09 AM
Very interesting I have heard the same thing from the less educated. My grandfather was 91 when they checked his colesterol, 106, they said how could it be this was early 1990′s they came to the conclusion his wine consumption was the reason. He would drink a BIG glass of wine every night! His hair was still salt and pepper until he died. My uncle is 75 and still has black hair, wine is an amazing elixir!
February 13th, 2008 at 6:36:09 PM
Great article, but I am still a beleiver in the powers of resveratrol and would be interested in finding out what type of “massive” quantity would need to be consumed to enjoy the alleged benefits.
February 20th, 2008 at 3:07:17 PM
Jim,
sorry it took me so long to browse back to this column. You could try Bonny Doon’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, bottled for Grahm in Madiran. I’m wondering if Tannat grown elewhere mantains the procyanidins– Basque immigrants brought the Tannat grape to Uruguay & there is some grown in Argentina, too.
May 29th, 2008 at 7:11:38 PM
I would like to hear is thoughts on this June 2004 opinion of the matter. I personally think that moderate amounts of wine can enhance quality of life and length of it too. That is just my opinion. This is the article:
The harm from the alcohol in wine is dose related – that is, higher amounts cause more damage, but light and moderate amounts also have risks.
Alcohol is a tumor promoter and any amount increases the risk of cancer says the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). In 2000, our government declared alcoholic beverages to be a class “A” human carcinogen, along with arsenic, asbestos, tobacco, etc., and even in smaller amounts can: compromise brain functioning (increasing the risk of accidents), interfere with medications, increase stress (alcohol does not produce true relaxation, it tranquilizes or drugs the drinker), cause the body to store more calories as fat, interfere with sleep, increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, osteoporosis, depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, triglycerides, and is a risk to the fetus of a pregnant woman.
Alcohol is toxic to the liver, aggravates allergies, worsens fatigue, can negate a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and the presence of alcohol hastens the breakdown of antioxidants in the blood, speeding their elimination from the body. The medical literature advises the public to avoid alcohol for almost every health problem – and as a way to prevent health problems.
The alcohol’s presence in wine increases free radicals, which cause damage to blood vessels tissues – dampening any of the benefits that red wine’s antioxidants may offer, says Dr. John Foltz, researcher at the University of Wisconsin.
Purple grape juice can give the benefits without the intoxicating effects, as grape juice contains more resveratrol, a supposed cholesterol lowering substance, than most red wine. Grape juice improves the function of the cells in blood vessel linings more efficiently than wine. Andrew Weil, M.D., internationally recognized expert on health, suggests that grape juice may prove to be healthier than wine because a study found that after drinking nonalcoholic wine, the catechin, an antioxidant flavonoid, remained for almost an hour longer in the blood than when drinking the alcoholic wine. His added comment was that although grape juice doesn’t appear to boost your HDL, regular aerobic exercise can be added.
January 11th, 2010 at 12:56:28 AM
“….Purple grape juice can give the benefits without the intoxicating effects, as grape juice contains more resveratrol…..”
Ah, but the sugar plays hell with insulin levels. Nobody should drink juice, ever, and even whole fruit should be limited in amounts for 30-40% of the population. (In nature, fruit was a rare seasonal treat, we’re not adapted to eat it all the time.)
Wine circumvents the sugar problem nicely. The sugar turns to alcohol, problem solved. Slainte! Salut! Na Zdarovye!
September 12th, 2010 at 11:00:32 AM
None of us are getting out of here alive. Enjoy the wine. Enjoy your life. Be responsible.