Raise A Glass Of Red To Your Health
Reports that alcohol, especially red wine, could be one of our best natural medicines are
always heartening - providing a cheerful antidote to nanny-like exhortations to drink only
a restricted number of units a week. According to researchers at Harvard University, a daily glass
of red wine appears to sharpen the brain of older women and slow down mental decline. Wine
- red and white - can also protect women’s hearts, according to a new Swedish report, one of very
few studies to focus on women’s rather than men’s hearts. Apparently, it may calm the nervous
system and have a beneficial impact on heart rhythm. Red wine also wards off lung cancer,
according to Spanish researchers, while other scientists report that it helps the immune system
to fight off colds and flu. Taken with a meal, it may even protect against food poisoning. These
findings follow in a long tradition. A robust glass of red wine has often been imbibed as a cure-
all. Italian grandmothers once took it to ease their joints or purify their blood, and they gave it
to their grandchildren to gargle as a mouthwash, to prevent infection. For modern wine buffs, the
fascinating question is: which red is the healthiest?
