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| regained its status as a beverage that's delicious and beneficial. |
| F.Y.I. |
| Although wine does not contain high amounts of iron, what it does have is very well absorbed by the body. |
| The Alcohol Factor |
| Recent research indicates that drinking small amounts of any type of alcoholic beverage helps prevent heart disease. The ethanol, or alcohol, in alcoholic beverages seems to raise levels of heart-protecting HDL cholesterol. But wine's benefits go further than this. |
| Why Wine? |
| Wine is better for you than other kinds of alcohol because it contains a high concentration of flavonoids. Researchers believe these beneficial compounds, including quercetin and resveratrol, may have even more heart-protective effects than vitamin E. Flavonoids help keep dangerous LDL cholesterol from sustaining free radical damage, which can cause them to stick to artery walls. Quercetin also helps prevent harmful blood clots, another factor in heart disease and stroke. |
| Flavonoids are far more concentrated in red wine than in white. The longer wine ferments, the more flavonoids are released, and red wine ferments much longer than white. |
| Infection Protection |
| Throughout the ages, wine has been used as an antiseptic and disinfectant. No less a bacterial authority than Louis Pasteur called wine "the most healthful and most hygienic of beverages." In the 1800s, scientists found that wine could kill cholera and typhoid germs, a fact once attributed to its alcohol content. But French researchers have dis- |
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