wine and health

Yes, almost all the health benefits of wine is linked to the polyphenol content of wine. there may be a slight effect due to the alcohol and yeast byproducts as well.

All of which are in kits as well as wine from fresh grapes.

Dave Smith wrote:

If anything, the kits may have more stuff: the comercial wine is often filtered. Sean

The kit wines are usually made from a mix of concentrated grape juice and invert suger added.

Obvoiusly this is worse than wine from pure grape juice, as its somewhat bulked up with suger, and it's usually the lesser standard grapes that go into concentrate rather than wine, but these damaged grapes contain higher concentrations of many polyphenols. However, concentrate is made by heating the grapes which chemically changes the grape juice.

The packets of 'not from concentrate' grape juice that you purchase in the supermarket are usually filtered to remove tannin found in the grape skin, so people can drink it without a astringic aftertaste - So Red grape juice, which is not a fermented beverage, is not a significant source of resveratrol or polyphenols.

In fact, you have to add tannin back to simulate the grape skin bitterness if making wine from this source.

The mechanisms behind the health effects - and the effects are visible in large population studies, are gradually being unpicked, but the key compounds so far are Resveratrol (a polyphenol) and more antioxidants, the flavonoids.

You can eat grapes, and eat other sources high in resveratrol - peanuts, mulberries, cranberries, blackberries etc.. are also good sources. Genrally a a lot of the polyphenol compounds are in tomatoes, peppers and other vibrantly coloured fruit and veg.

The amount of resveratrol (trans-resveratrol) in peanuts ranges from

0.02 to 1.79 micrograms per gram. A 100g serving delivers about 100 mcg. Red wine contains from 0.6 to 0.8 micrograms per milliliter, a glass of red wine delivers on the average, between 600 to 700 micrograms of resveratrol, 6 times more than peanuts. Fresh grape skin, has approximately 50 to 100 micrograms per gram. So a tablespoon full of freash grape skin provides the same as a glass of red.

To make wine for the heath effect - I guess the best way would be to get a few baskets of grapes from a fruit wholesale source, and press your own red wine. However, a few glasses a week in addition won't harm, and unlike juice, wine keeps for years, and you get a benefit from the alcohol.

You could also make a country wine from berries, like blackberry/blueberry/mulberry wine and should get a similar effect in terms of the greater health benefits.

The polyphenol Resveratrol is increasingly deemed to have a number of potentially beneficial properties, including antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.

Sean Cleary wrote:

Hardworker; What type filtration removes tannins? Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA