UK Wine Show 31 Roger Corder, The Wine Diet

This show was published Friday, December 29, 2006

Overview

This week we talk to Roger Corder the author of a new book, The Wine Diet. The book sets out to explain the health benefits that can be derived from drinking red wine in moderation and how it may help improve the quality and quantity of life. The book was serialised in the Telegraph in the run up to Christmas 2006 and the author Roger Corder is a professor in experimental therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute in London. I have reviewed the book here, .

In the interview Roger gives us a run down on how he found a relationship between drinking certain types of red wine and groups of people living longer than average. In the course of his research he identified that wine and food are a beneficial combination that can help people live better and longer. He has identified that wines rich in tannins have a particular type of tannin called procyanidins which impart benefits through improved blood flow. Wines that are rich in procyanidins can often be found all over the world but they are rarely seen in wines designed for easy quaffing. Procyanidin-rich wines have high tannins and need food to balance out the drying and sometimes astringent effect of the tannins. This works well with Roger's view that the positive effects of the red wine need to tempered with the negative health effects of alcohol, and slowing down the alcohol hitting your blood stream by drinking with food leads him to recommend drinking wine with meals. He suggests that if you can avoid drinking on an empty stomach you can enjoy between two and three 125ml glasses or between 250ml to 375ml a day.

The key benefits of red wine consumption are derived from an improvement in the flow of blood in the body (vascular function) decreasing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other heart-related diseases.

In summarty drinking red wine in moderation along with a healthy diet, regular exercise and not smoking can make a great start to improving the length and quality of your life. Bottoms up!

Technical term

Polyphenols are natural chemical compounds found in grapes that provide colour, tannin and some flavours to the grape.

Tannins are responsible for the drying almost astringent taste in the mouth and usually come from the skin and seeds, although the stalks do contain tannins.

Anthocyanins are responsible for the colour of red wine and the pigmentation comes primarily from the skin of the grape.

Procyanidins are thought to improve blood flow in the body and reduce the risk of heart attacks. The are often found in wines that are high in other Polyphenols rich wines such as tannins and anthocyanins.

Flavonoids are subset of Polyphenols and include Anthocyanins and Catechins. They are the largest know subset of Polyphenols and make up to 90% of the Polyphenols found in red wine.

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Sponsorship

The UK Wine Show is sponsored by ThirtyFifty. Our team of wine tasters are busy entertaining and educating UK consumers to help them get the most out of wine.

Music

The music used for the UK Wine Show is Griffes de Jingle 1 by Marcel de la Jartèle and Silence by Etoile Noire.