GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – New research to try to better understand the source of the beneficial aspects in red wine appears to show, at least for men with high blood pressure, that alcohol-free red wine could offer help. The results of the Barcelona-based research were published Friday 7 September in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research.
The AHA (American Heart Association) summarizes the research:
“Non-alcoholic red wine increased participants’ levels of nitric oxide, which helped decrease both systolic and diastolic blood pressure, researchers said. Nitric oxide is a molecule in the body that helps blood vessels relax and allows more blood to reach your heart and organs.
“Researchers studied 67 men with diabetes or three or more cardiovascular risk factors who ate a common diet plus one of the following drinks: about 10 ounces of red wine, non-alcoholic red wine or about 3 ounces of gin. All of the men tried each diet/beverage combination for 4 weeks.“The red wine and nonalcoholic wine contained equal amounts of polyphenols, an antioxidant that decreases blood pressure.”
The study leaves many questions, starting with whether the same results would be achieved with healthy people and with women. The authors note that lower blood pressure can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. It measured blood pressure on one day only, raising the question of longer-term benefits.
“And the researchers didn’t measure the exact polyphenol content of the wines, raising the possibility that some other property of the non-alcoholic wine helped lower blood pressure,” CNN points out. “Despite the growing evidence of red wine’s heart benefits, doctors generally don’t recommend it to their patients because of the hazards associated with alcohol. Non-alcoholic red wine might be an option for people who want to consume polyphenols without the alcohol, [co-author] Estruch and his colleagues say.”
An AHA editorial on the subject of wine and hearts, in August 2012, suggests that ” The greatest blood pressure benefit seems to be obtained with one drink per day for women and with two drinks per day for men.”
Note: I will try to come up with addresses for alcohol-free wine in Switzerland; for now I have one to suggest:
La Côte de Vincent
Signatures de Prestige
C/O Brasier François SA
17 rue Blavignac
1227 CAROUGE – GENEVE
Tel: +41 22 827 46 10
Fax: +41 22 343 71 41
E-mail : infos@vinsansalcool.ch
And Cave SA carries a good article on the subject of low and no alcohol wines, in French.