Wine Explained: Is Wine Really Healthy Or Not?

filotasriza3 (71)in #steemstem • 7 years ago (edited)

Wine, what a drink am i right? Although i am not a heavy drinker not am i a drinker in general, i enjoy once in a while a great glass of whine or a bottle! Today i wanna dive a bit deeper into the world of wine and try to give you answers to a question that concerns a lot of people and that question is whether wine is good or bad for your health, but before we analyze that question let's learn a thing or two about the history of wine. Don't forget to read it drinking a glass of wine!

History Of wine

The history and discovery of wine is extremely old and goes back to 4100 B.C were the oldest winery was found in Ancient Armenia testing chemically some jars and vessels, finding Malvidin that is considered the best chemical indicator of red wine. In general there are many countries that made use of wine since the ancient times and some of them are China, Iran, Greece, Georgia, Italy (Sicily, Rome in that era), Egypt but let's take a closer look at some of them!

Egypt

Ancient Egypt was a superpower for about 1500 years and in those years wine skyrocketed. As you may know they used records of their business trades so that's how we know a lot about them and the wine ofc. Except the fact that they have made a red like grape wine that due to it's color looked like blood and used in their ceremonies they also imported a lot of wine from Lebanon (wine that pharaoh's drank) and from trades with Greeks,Jews and Phoenicians.

Greece

Ancient Greeks ''mastered'' the art of wine-making and even dedicate a god to it. The god Dionysus is basically the god of wine and festivity and myths come along his name. Also the Greeks did a pretty good job at spreading wine into the whole world as when they grew into a superpower they were one of the top trading spots and when they conquered a new land they carried wine and grapevines with them that used it as farming materials to the new promising lands!

Rome

Rome conquered Greece and basically most of the things they do either is architecture, god worshiping or wine are inspired by Greece. As they grew stronger and expand to the rest of Europe wine spreads too. Then they adopt Christianity and wine earned the number one spot not only in Europe but in other areas of the world too.

All in All that is the whole history and the main factor that lead to this vast spreading is the wars and conquest that took place either this is called Spanish in America or Catholics in Japan. After all the wars the boarders open as well as trading and economies and it's only natural wine to have the spot it now has .

Is Wine Healthy or Not?

The Answer is Yes and No

The main reason behind this is the quantity of wine you are drinking. In general alcoholic drinks aren't the best option for our health as they can cause cancer as well as depression, liver issues, brain malfunctions, Diabetes and increased body weight but let's look the bright side and learn how wine can help us and in what quantities!

Wine's Anti-Aging power

The whole big deal is that red wine and i repeat RED wine can be helpful against heart diseases and that's happening cause of Resveratrol an antioxidant and phytonutrient that can be found on the skin of red grapes, red wine and in case you are wondering yes it can be found to white grapes and wine but in low quantities. Resveratrol is said to have anti-aging effects protecting us from free radicals (unstable molecules that take any electron they find around resulting in destroying our system's balance) and cancer.

It can also help against atherosclerosis and bad cholesterol because of it's anti-inflammatory activity. According to studies on animals resveratrol has a positive result in blood insulin concentration and secretion as well as decreasing problems that may occur with nerves and heart in diabetic people. Think of it like this, there is a molecule called Sphingosine Kinase and another called Phospholipase D. that trigger inflammation.Inflammation isn't a bad thing as it is produced by our system to fight back and protect us from harmful viruses but if the inflammation process is a constant thing then our body ages faster and tissues destroyed so with resveratrol this whole thing can be limited and obtain some ''boundaries''.

Wine Helps Our Brain

A New study shows for the first time that red wine can actually help our brain by clearing the toxins out. This is happening in the Glymphatic system the system that is responsible for that particular reason and the ''usual'' suspect is once again the antioxidants the red wine has. The experiment happened in mice and we had 3 teams. the first one was the one with high alcohol levels and as you may guess soon enough issues in the cognitive and motor abilities came forth as well as high levels of inflammation.

The unique and amazing thing is that between the ones that exposed in low levels of alcohol and the ones that had no alcohol involved in their diet had the exact same effects on motor and cognitive controls but the low alcohol ones had less inflammation and the whole cleaning the waste progress was more efficient!

The Other Side Of The Coin

Although for the time being none argues with the brain research there are some different opinions in the Resveratrol matter that even though in mice the results are good, in humans we don't have any real proofs yet especially if people consume resveratrol substances. The whole story started with the French Paradox in which we have the French diet full of croissants, cheese and stuff that cause heart diseases along side the wine consumption they had and as a result their heart diseases rate were low.Some scientists argue that there are many other factors that may be responsible for that and use as their primary argument the Japanese that despite drinking no wine but beers and clean spirits their heart disease rate are even lower than French.

Conclusion

My personal experience on that matter even though i am not a scientist is based on a line the Ancient Greeks used to say

Μέτρον Άριστον (Metron Ariston)

The meaning behind that saying is to have and maintain a balance to everything either this is called food, exercise or life. If you go above or below the limits of balance then you gonna have issues. Wine isn't the exception as if you drink a lot then you gonna face addiction,heart,brain,motor problems or you gonna get drunk and who knows what you gonna do in that state, from dying and killing others to just sleep in the park. On the other hand having a balance at your drinking and let's say consume 1 glass of wine per day then not only you won't have issues you gonna help yourself too!

Choose wisely

Images and gifs 1 2 3 4 5 6

All the sources are as links inside the post!

In case you wanna read other of my posts click here if you believe you can handle it!

#steemiteducation #science #life #greek-trail

7 years ago in #steemstem by filotasriza3 (71)

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muphy (61) 7 years ago

I was raised near Bordeaux with a mother that is a wine taster. Everyday, super wines at the table, usually 2 or 3 because we would be carrying out blind tasting (she loved to teach us a few tips and tricks in oenology).

Then I went to live for a few years in Japan, continued drinking wine over there (moderately), and got really into the local food. Now ten years later, I still eat Italian pasta with chop sticks lol!

The point I want to denounce is the scientist using the fact the Japanese drink beer instead of wine (which is totally true) invalidates the French paradox. Japanese food is very healthy, much healthier than French food... Thus they cannot compare the two to deny wine consumption as a factor in a lower heart disease rate.

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filotasriza3 (71) 7 years ago

ahh i see your point and it seems really valid. Although i don't know the exact methodology and by that i mean if the scientists made the assumption without checking the same quantities of the 2 different dies and compare them by nutrition. If it was just an assumption without an actual test then you are more than right!

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nomadicsoul (68) 7 years ago

Good post! Do you want to know something else I found out about a reason wine can be unhealthy? A lot of modern wine has a lot of sulfates, unless you get high quality...and the sulfates can have a bad negative reaction!

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