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Red Wines and the French Paradox
In 1991, the television show 60 Minutes aired a special that discussed the French Paradox, and concluded that red wines decrease cardiac disease occurrences. Within a few weeks, the consumption of red wines across the United States went up nearly 50 percent. The increase was so dramatic, in fact, that many wineries requested their products be labeled as “health food.”
What is the French Paradoz? Well, “French Paradox” is a term that was created by a scientist from the Bordeaux University in France named Dr. Serge Renaud, who noticed that French citizens as a whole had low occurrences of coronary heart disease… despite having a diet heavy in saturated fats.
There are a lot of theories as to the reason for the French Paradox. Some credit the climate. Some credit the lifestyle. But the most commonly accepted explanation is that the main factor in causing what is known as the French Paradox is a high consumption of red wines.
Specifically, many believe that it is the phyroalexin known as resveratrol that lowers the chance of coronary heart disease. Resveratrol can be found in both red and white wines, and has been credited with playing a vital role in the French Paradox.
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Posted on: Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 9:00 am
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: red wines, white wines