Health benefits of red wine

Compound in Red Wine May Be Key to Heart Health
But levels of procyanidins aren't the same in all wines, study says

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 29 (HealthDay News) -- The benefits of red wine keep pouring in: British researchers now say that higher levels of procyanidins -- a compound found in red wine -- have potent protective effects on blood vessels.

But, the levels of procyanidins -- a type of flavonoid polyphenol -- vary in different types of wines, depending on where they're produced. Red wines from areas in southwest France and Sardinia, where traditional winemaking is still practiced and where people tend to live long lives, have higher levels of the compound, the researchers said.

"The endothelial cells which line our arteries are an important site of action for the vascular protective effects of polyphenols," Roger Corder, of Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, said in a prepared statement. "We purified the most biologically active polyphenols and identified them as procyanidins."

The researchers then tested wines from two regions in southwest France and Sardinia and compared them with wines from other countries. The wines from France and Sardinia had surprisingly high levels of procyanidins, often five to 10 times more than wines produced elsewhere, the researchers found.

These findings suggest that although a glass or two a day can benefit the circulatory system, not all red wines provide the same amount of polyphenols.

"The traditional production methods used in Sardinia and southwestern France ensure that the beneficial compounds, procyanidins, are efficiently extracted," Corder said. "This may explain the strong association between consumption of traditional tannic wines with overall well-being, reflected in greater longevity."