Recently, the European Society of Cardiology gathered in Barcelona for its annual congress, where numerous accounts of promising heart-disease research was revealed. Envious American eyes are on a study of regular wine consumption and its apparent health benefits.
In the past studies have shown that wine drinkers have healthier hearts than nondrinkers, but the current trial (In Vino Veritas) is the first study to actually introduce wine into people’s lives and track its effects on their bodies. Lead researcher Miloš Táborský, head of cardiology at the Palacký University Hospital in Olomouc of Czech Republic, explained their findings:
“We found that moderate wine drinking was only protective in people who exercised. Red and white wine produced the same results.”
The study was conducted over a one year span. In this time 146 subjects drank “moderate” amounts of wine five days a week. For men, that meant 0.3 to 0.4 liters daily (appr. two to two-and-a-half glasses) and for women it meant 0.2 to 0.3 liters (appr. one to two glasses). Half of the subjects drank pinot noir, and half drank a chardonnay-pinot. The participants logged any and all alcohol consumption in journals, where they also kept track of their diets and physical activity.
By itself, drinking wine did not appreciably affect cholesterol, blood glucose, triglycerides, or levels of inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein.
Táborský and the researchers then ran more specific analysis, looking at people who exercised. Among those who worked out twice per week and drank wine, there was significant improvement in cholesterol levels (HDL and LDL) after a year of regular wine consumption, red or white.
“Our current study shows that the combination of moderate wine drinking plus regular exercise improves markers of atherosclerosis,” said Táborský, “suggesting that this combination is protective against cardiovascular disease.”
Táborský brought up that “there may be some synergy between the low dose of ethyl alcohol in wine and exercise which is protective against cardiovascular disease.”
Despite these findings keep in mind with only a third of the world drinking alcohol, its usage still results in over 3 million deaths each year. As nice as it is to think drinking a moderate amount of wine is a good for ones health, this is still very controversial. However, thinking about it in terms of health, vineyard jogging or pilates may becomes a trend. Syndical, as a company, would never endorse drunken athletics or suggest that anyone start a vineyard jogging group. We do however suggest a cardio based work out at least twice a week, also hydrate with water throughout the day and after exercise, and then if you’d like a glass or two of wine, “do you.”
