CHOLESTEROL DIET SECRETS

According to the Winemakers' Federation of Australia, more than 1 million tonnes of red wine was consumed in 2006. This humongous amount of red wine is sufficient to fill 363,000 olympic-size swimming pools! It is little wonder that so many studies were and are still being conducted to investigate the health aspects of red wine consumption.

Studies on red wine suggested that drinking moderate amount of it (one glass a day for women and two glasses a day for men) lowers the risk of heart attack for people in middle age by about 30 to 50 percent. If you have already suffered from a previous heart attack, moderate consumption of red wine may prevent subsequent attacks from occurring. It has also been found that red wine could raise the good HDL cholesterol and prevent the formation of bad LDL cholesterol.

Indeed, many studies have found that people from the Mediterranean region (France, Italy, Spain...naming a few) who regularly drank red wine have lower risk of heart disease. Perhaps the most famous wine research was carried out by Professor Serge Renaud. Professor Renaud discovered that even though the French eat large quantities of high-fat cheese, pate and salami, they have some of the lowest rates of heart disease in the world. This was coined "the French Paradox", which suggested that wine was the decisive factor in protecting the people in southern France from their diets of high fats and ultimately coronary heart disease.

So how is red wine good? Simple. Red wine is a rich source of flavonoids which are powerful antioxidants found in grape skins and seeds. The skins and seeds are key ingredients in the making of wine. When red wine is consumed, the flavonoids enter our tissues and combat the oxidation process (oxidation is the process that changes LDL cholesterol into plaque that are responsible for blocking arteries). Thus, flavonoids help to prevent artery blockage, thereby reducing one's risk of heart disease.

By the way, flavonoids are commonly known as "Grape Seed Extracts". They have so widely been researched that many reputable health supplement companies have now added flavonoids to their multi-vitamin formula, while some have created a special class of flavonoid antioxidant products called Grape Seed Extracts.

As with any product that we consume, the key is in moderation. With your physician's permission, drink moderate amounts of red wine as recommended. Avoid excessive alcohol consumption as always.

A toast to your health!

Nancy

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