Remedial Red Wine (transferred from 'Sultana Fling')

Oh, I love this!

For some time now I've been applauding the scientists for finding two very good reasons for drinking red wine: for the heart, and for the head. Both my father and brother died of heart diseases, and my mother has Alzheimer's, so the unearthing of this news has allowed me a damn good excuse for a guilt free glass a day.

But, today, I see there is even more reason to celebrate with a glass of red:

Counteracting bad diet: Eating my daily chicken tikka samosas might be ok, because it is counteracted by the resveratrol in the wine (by just a little bit)! Apparently this chemical prevented most of the side effects of a bad diet in mice over 6 months [Yeeesss! I like the sound of that!]

So, I had a look to see what other benefits red wine might have, and found:

It helps prevent the common cold and herpes

Though there are benefits for the heart, caution is made to starting drinking alcohol if you don't already (moderation, moderation, moderation!)

It's apparently a key to longer life, again due to the potent polyphenol, resveratrol.

Prevention of cancer, due to the antioxidant phenols in red wine including catechin, gallic acid, and epicatechin, and again the polyphenol, resveratrol, is mentioned as having the most benefits. Types of cancer mentioned here are leukemia, skin, breast, and prostate cancers.

And, if you are worried about the increase in alcohol affecting your health negatively, apparently the benefit of drinking red wine is that it doesn't reduce your white blood cell count (and so your immunity) as other alcohols do.

Obviously, you could get these benefits from red grape juice, or such like (mentioned in many of these articles) but hey! I'm convinced! :-)