The Pros of Alcohol Consumption
Despite the enormous negative health and socioeconomic impact of alcohol use and abuse on the world population, light-to-moderate alcohol consumption also has several beneficial human health effects. These include reduced risk of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer (187). A substantial proportion of the benefit of moderate drinking is due to the pure ethanol component of alcoholic beverages; however, differences in the beneficial effects of various alcoholic beverages may occur (98). In particular, red wine contains a high number of polyphenols, such as resveratrol that can increase the function of the endogenous antioxidant system (27). Although research continues on resveratrol, the concentration in wine seems too low to account for the so-called French Paradox, which is the observation that the French suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease despite a diet relatively rich in saturated fats. Very recently, another group of polyphenols, known as procyanides, has been identified. Tests of 165 wines demonstrated that the greatest concentrations are found in European red wines from certain areas, which correlates with the longevity in those regions, such as southwestern France, (Spanagel, Rainer (2009): Alcoholism: a systems approach from molecular physiology to addictive behavior. In Physiological reviews 89 (2), p. 651)