Red Wine 'Solution To' the "French Paradox"

Red Wine 'Solution To' the "French Paradox"

Article Provided by: South Bend Tribune - January 15, 2002

Doctors have long been puzzled by the "French paradox," the seemingly contradictory phenomenon of the French having low heart disease rates despite their cuisine, which contains high levels of unhealthy saturated fats.

One possible explanation has been that something in red wine might protect against heart disease. Now, Roger Corder and colleagues of St. Bartholomew's Hospital Medical College and the London School of Medicine, Queen Mary University in London say they might have found the answer.

Substances in red wine known as polyphenols, which come from grape skins, inhibit the production of endothelin-1, a peptide that causes blood vessels to constrict, a process believed to be a key factor in the development of heart disease, laboratory tests showed. Red grape juice had the same effect, but to a much lesser extent. Extracts from white and ros wines had no such effect, the researchers note in the Dec. 20-27 issue of Nature.

(C) 2002 South Bend Tribune. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved

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