The French Paradox and the Pursuit of the Truth
The entire idea that drinking red wine might be beneficial for health came from a concept that became popular in the 90s, suggesting that red wine is the answer to why the French population suffers less from heart diseases despite the high-fat diet of French cuisine. Since the average French person drinks about 48 liters of red wine per year, researchers dedicated considerable time and effort to studying this subject from the perspective of red wine, but as mentioned, it has now been discovered that the answer does not lie in the drink. In fact, for example, Italians also consume a lot of wine, but the same phenomenon was not observed among them.
In addition to wine, fatty cheeses were also perceived as a healthy component of the French diet. In 2009, naturopath Frank Cooper published a book called "Cholesterol and the French Paradox," in which he argued that daily consumption of fatty cheeses is what helps prevent heart diseases among the French population. The French consume about 26 kilograms of cheese per person per year, while the average in Europe and the United States, for example, is about 17 kilograms. This notion was adopted by many in the field of alternative medicine, and there are also studies showing that fatty cheese consumption is associated with lower cholesterol levels. However, there may be contradictions in the findings here as well. Either way, no definitive answer has yet been found for the French paradox, but what is certain is that drinking wine is not the solution.
The Problem – Flawed Studies
Over the years, many studies have shown that those who drink wine moderately have a reduced risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions. The reason wine is perceived as a healthy alcoholic drink is because grape skins contain flavonoids, which are antioxidants, and the polyphenols in wine are known to suppress the production of endothelin, which raises blood pressure. The alcohol in wine itself is supposed to increase the levels of good cholesterol in the blood and reduce plasma viscosity, and all of these effects are supposed to prevent cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and cardiovascular diseases.
However, a major and central problem has now been discovered in these studies: they focused on examining older adults in the second half of their lives and did not thoroughly investigate younger people who drank wine in this manner throughout their lives. The researchers compared those considered moderate wine drinkers to others who did not drink, some of whom used to drink in the past but stopped in old age, sometimes because they had already developed chronic illnesses that required them to stop. This comparison makes those who continued to drink appear healthier.
What Did the Latest Study Review Reveal?
When researchers cross-referenced data from 107 studies conducted on the subject, it initially appeared that those who drank moderately (between one glass of wine a week and two glasses of wine a day) had a 14% reduced risk of premature death. However, everything changed when the researchers delved deeper into the data and realized that there were only a handful of "high-quality" studies that included young participants under the age of 55, where moderate wine consumption was not linked to increased longevity.
In fact, all the studies that linked moderate wine drinking to longevity were those that studied older adults and did not consider the drinking habits of participants in earlier stages of their lives. In general – only when looking at the flawed studies does there appear to be a connection between daily wine consumption and longevity.
So, Is It Healthy to Drink Red Wine?
Flawed studies "proved" to us that red wine is healthy in moderation, but a recent review showed that this is not the truth and that, in fact, there are no long-term benefits to drinking red wine. Our tendency to believe in these studies mainly stemmed from the French paradox, but according to the latest findings, this was a logical error that caused us all to believe that moderate alcohol consumption could improve health. Researchers now recommend avoiding alcohol altogether for the sake of heart and vascular health, as no real benefits of red wine have been found in the long term, even with moderate consumption.
