Red Wine

Red Wine

Introduction
The potential beneficial health effects of moderate consumption of red wine have become of interest to the general population.   Red wine and its various components have been shown to have a connection with reduced heart disease, anti-hypertension, anti-cancer, anti-coagulant, decrease neurodegeneration and antioxidant properties (1-6).   Research was performed on the issue towards the “French paradox” which explains that the French have lower levels of coronary heart disease (CHD) despite their high consumption of saturated fats and alcoholic beverages when compared to North Americans (1).   The health benefits of red wine have been ascribed to the alcohol and polyphenol compounds that are found within wine. A widely known theory to explain the cause of CHD states that, the developments of atherosclerotic plaques are caused by the oxidation of lipoproteins within the artery wall (5).   Red wine polyphenols posses a potential quality to act as free radical scavengers which could bind to low density lipoproteins (LDL) preventing the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaques.   Polyphenols in red wine could possibly regulate endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression and preceding nitric oxide synthesis, which may have long-term antiatherosclerotic effects (7).   When examined in detail resveratrol, which is a polyphenolic compound, could potentially act as an anti-coagulant and antioxidant posing a beneficial effect to human health (2).   The positive and negative benefits of red wine will be discussed throughout the paper since there are various conflicting results concluded in different studies
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The History of Red Wine
The oldest known site for wine production was in Europe and it dates back 6,500 years to ancient Greece (8).   The oldest known source to describe Greek wine production was the writer Theoprastus (9).   Although wine had been used ceremonially, it seems it was also valued for its therapeutic properties.   In the early Roman...