The Science of Wine
Updated: Oct 1, 2019
Authored by Piotr Plaskota
Preface: The legal independent drinking age in the UK is 18. Please drink
responsibly.
It’s Friday night. You have just finished a tough week of work. Do you know
what it is time for? – That’s right, take out the glasses and treat yourself to a
glass of Merlot. After all, not only do you deserve it, but a glass of red wine is
good for you, right?
This kind of information has been in the news headlines every so often and
gives claim to all kinds of health benefits ranging from a healthy gut, cancer
prevention and an improved cardiovascular health, amongst many others. 1,2,3
The aim of this article is to have a closer look at these claims and see if wine,
notably red wine, is all it is hyped up to be.
France is commonly thought as the wine capital of the world, famous for wine
regions such as the Aquitaine, Bordeaux and Burgundy. 3 The French diet is
thought to consist of a high level of saturated fat which usually would result in
increased risk to cardiovascular health, yet France has a low level of coronary
heart disease (CHD) compared to other populations. This concept is commonly
referred to as “The French Paradox”. Some studies have suggested that the
paradox can be explained by the frequent wine consumption in French society.
Most of these link this disparity to compounds found in wine called phenolic
compounds, most notably one called resveratrol. These compounds are not
evenly distributed in the grape, resveratrol, for example, is found mostly in the
skin. This is important as the preparation of white wine involves using mostly
the pulp of the grape, unlike red wine, so levels of resveratrol are much higher
in red wines. 4 You could think of red wine as the “king” of resveratrol. Quick
side note though, even in between different red wines the levels of different
phenolic compounds vary quite widely.
Dietary restriction has been shown in to help in extending life spans of species
ranging from yeast to primates. 5 While the application to humans remains
unclear the exact regimen would be much too strict to follow retaining a high
quality of life; mimicking the effects of dietary restriction has become an area
of interest of study. 5 Resveratrol is one such candidate, and has been shown to
improve health in some species including yeast and mice.
The same effects did not translate into human clinical trials. Despite this,
claims of health benefits relating to the phenolic components of wine still
persist. 6,7 This is not to say that some of these phenolic components do not
have a positive effect, but rather that further studies are needed to confirm.
One potential reason for the difference has been suggested to be the
low/highly variable bioavailability of resveratrol to humans, further studies
would need to be performed to confirm these details. 6 The studies surrounding
resveratrol do highlight an important fact; drugs can show a lot of promise in
the cell cultures and in animals, but the same effects do not always translate to
us. Human clinical trials will likely always be needed to ensure drugs are
working effectively.
So, if it’s not resveratrol that explains The French Paradox, what is it? Well, the
debate is still very much open. One suggestion is that the alcoholic content in
the wine itself has a positive effect on the body in moderation. These claims
are generally accepted to be true and the benefits include reduced risk relating
to cardiovascular disease. 7,8 One should note, however, that drinking alcoholic
products does increase risk for various other diseases such as cancer and liver
cirrhosis as well as, of course, cardiovascular disease at higher doses. 8 These
results do give some explanation to The French Paradox, but there is another
possible explanation as well, one of correlation. It has been shown that wine
drinkers tend to fall into similar categories relating to lifestyle. They often are
non-smokers who regularly exercise and even include more fruit and
vegetables into their diet. 9 Interestingly, the studies showed that the lifestyles
of wine drinkers are generally healthier than teetotallers.
To conclude, drinking wine in moderate amounts has its risks and benefits. But
if you are really looking to improve your health and reduce your risk of disease
maybe take some inspiration from the average lifestyle of wine drinkers – go
for a jog.
Author’s Comments:
As usual with these articles I have tried to concisely summarise some of the
studies I have read in the literature. This is only the tip of the iceberg but if you
find this kind of stuff interesting, I would recommend reading further. The
World Health Organisation always has lots of great information surrounding
the health risks of different substances. It even compares how men and
women are at different risks with things like alcohol so I would recommend
giving that a read for sure. If you do read any information about wine in the
news, see if they actually state the study they are referring to. If they do, give
the abstract or conclusion of the study a quick as this can give a lot of
information in a short period of time. As always, all references are given (using
Royal Society of Chemistry style).
References:
[1] The Telegraph, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/nutrition/red-
wine-unexpected-health-benefits/, Accessed 13/09/2019
[2] BBC, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49480864, Accessed 13/09/2019
[3] J. Robinson, The Oxford Companion to Wine (Third Edition), Oxford
University Press, 273-274, 2006
[4] Winefolly, https://winefolly.com/tutorial/how-is-white-wine-made/,
Accessed 13/09/2019
[5] J. A. Baur, Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, 2010, 131, 261–269
[6] J. M. Smoliga, J. A. Baur, H. A. Hausenblas., Mol. Nutr. Food Res. 2011, 55,
1129–1141
[7] A. Artero, A. Artero, J. J.Tarín, A. Canoe, Maturitas, 2015, 80, 3–13
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378512214002941
[8]World Health Organization – Data relating to alcohol safety,
http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/disease-prevention/alcohol-
use/data-and-statistics/q-and-a-how-can-i-drink-alcohol-safely, Accessed
13/09/2019
[9] J. C. Barefoot, M. Grønbæk, J. R. Feaganes, R. S. McPherson, R. B Williams, C. Siegler, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 76(2), 2002, 466–472