Wine drinkers are exponents of the "art of living", but the consumption of wine, if regular and moderate, also promotes a "healthy existence".
Drawing on experience gathered by the Persians and Egyptians over thousands of years, Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) and Theophrastus (372-287 B.C.) began to codify this divine remedy.
In the following centuries, the Roman thinkers and poets Celsus, Dioscoridus, Galen, Petronius, Pliny the Elder) elaborated on wine's many virtues.
The Middle Ages saw knowledge and spirituality confined to the monasteries. It was in these places, increasingly, that vines were grown and their benefits of the ir juices studied (Saint Benoît's order prescribed a quarter litre of wine a day).
The Renaissance gave the world illustrious physicians (Ambroise Paré, Paracelsus) who without exception recommended the use of wine. The most famous of the writer-physicians, François Rabelais, showed that drinking - albeit excessively on occasion - harms neither quality of thought nor robust health.
From the 18th century onwards, the pharmacopeia stated the specific qualities of each terroir (164 medicinal wines were listed). Wine was recognised as an antibiotic, and English doctors procured their supplies in the Bordelais region.
The discoveries of Louis Pasteur opened the door to oenology and the "medecine of wine"; he declared the latter to be "the most hygienic and healthy of beverages".
In the 20th century, wine played a role in every battle: from Verdun to Prohibition, on to the wine glut and the creation of the AOC appelations, and ending in fine style with the French Paradox.
Wine must be consumed in moderation, and medical opinion considers that a normally active 70 kg adult can, in the course of two or three daily meals, drink a total of 0.5 litre of 10° proof wine. This estimate should naturally take account of the person's health and diet (vitamins, carbohydrates and fats assist in the digestion of wine).
We do not wish to take the place of traditional medicine, and we advise against replacing your medication by a learned blend of vintages, unless of course you receive your doctor's blessing first!
Wine's therapeutic qualities have an effect on many physiological functions. Some of these are listed below, with the corresponding remedy:
|- Allergies||Corbières - Côtes du Ventoux - Organic wines|
|- As an Apéritif||Dry Champagne - Jurançon|
|- Atherosclerosis||Médoc - Saint-Emilion|
|- Cellulitis||Gros-Plant - Muscadet|
|- Constipation||Sweet white Anjou - Sweet white Vouvray|
|- Detoxication||Dry Champagne|
|- Diabetes||Red Bordeaux - Gaillac - Riesling|
|- Digestion||Dry Champagne|
|- Diuresis||Muscadet - Chablis - Sancerre|
|- Gastralgia||Sauternes - Sainte Croix du Mont|
|- Gout||Crépy - Seyssel|
|- Heart trouble||Dry Champagne|
|- Hypertension||Dry Champagne|
|- Mild osteo-arthritis||Médoc|
|- Mineral deficiency||Bordeaux - Côtes-du-Rhône - Champagnes|
|- Obesity||Red Bordeaux|
|- Rheumatism||Crépy - Sylvaner|
|- Slow digestion||Médoc - Monbazillac|
Special beneficial effects :
|-||Level of Lipoproteins|
|+||Level of oestrogens|
|-||Level of platelet aggregation|
|-||de 1/2 glasse of wine/day.........0.74|
|de 1/2 à 3 glasses/day..............0.56|
|+||de 3 glasses/day.......................0.35|
|+||Level of Tissular Plasminogen Activator (TPA)|
|+||Level of bile secretion|
|-||Risk of cataracts|
|-||Risk of cancer (resvératrol + anti-stress effect)|
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