The wine world suffers another setback. Too bad especially for Spain just few days after the VAT increase which was already enough bad news. This time, news reaches us from Europe and regarding labeling. Since now on it is prohibited to use statements alluding to health claims on beverages containing more than 1,2% by volume of alcohol.

It all started by a German wine cooperative that marketed its wines under the words "easily digestible". Good for the digestion, exactly as the Spanish traditional yellow herbs shots (“chupitos de hierbas”) but with less alcohol and a different colour.

I'm still amazed at one of the latest studies to which I have had access. The scientific community has that innate ability for surprising us almost every week, but the research which has concluded that wine improves pig heart deserves at least this post...

Let's point out: all the data provided by this study, conducted by the illustrious Frank Sellke (chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Hospital of Rhode Island) materializes these benefits do not come from the intake of any type of wine, but red wine. Thanks God they have not gone into detail about wineries, brands, etc ... because I really prefer not to even imagine (would they have decanted it before serving it?).

The benefits of wine for the health are already proven for some time, so that doctors typically include a moderate intake of wine in a balanced diet. However, the extent to which elements of wine can help maintain health is something that is still under investigation. There are many different elements that compose the wine, and not all have been investigated in depth yet.

In fact, this past week a scientific study of the Center for Biomedical Network Research-Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition (Cibreobn), protected by the Health Institute Carlos III, concluded that the beneficial effects of wine in reducing blood pressure and arterial and cell inflammation, are not only caused by the “famous” red wine polyphenols but also by ethanol, the alcohol contained in wine.

To make a good wine is complicated, even for the most expert winery. It implies to take good care of the vineyard, the grape and the production, and to be lucky with the annual meteorology.

We could say the same, now, about cosmetics, because the wineries are aiming to investigation, attracted by the benefits of resveratrol. But this is only one of the many components of wine, so there are still a lot of benefits to discover. And these benefits can mean, to many wineries, the best way out of the crisis.

How were the benefits of wine known?

One of the first wineries that started the study of the cosmetic properties of wine was Château Smith Haut Lafitte, in Burgundy, they began to study the properties of one of the components of the seed, the famous polifenols, they act as skin protectors against the free radicals, responsibles of aging.

These studies took them to commercialize the brand “Caudalie”, it includes lotions that use polifenols and resveratrol (as anti-aging agents) and viniferine (to reduce skin marks). They own the patents in every ambit and their brand is one of the most successful in France, starting from the same vineyard where they still produce wine. Read more

With bread and wine you can walk your road, we could say that chocolate and wine and the brain goes fine. At least this is what researchers have deduced at the Northumbria University, who claim that the combination of chocolate and red wine is good for the brain.

According to the investigators, the combination of the two foods improves the blood vessel circulation in the brain, because they are rich in polyphenols.

The investigation was initially designed to prove the benefits of resveratrol in the brain. Resveratrol is one of several types of polyphenols in red wine that according to researchers, leads to increase blood flow in the brain, and carries sugars and oxygen to the brain, becoming easier and faster to make complex calculations. Read more

This is the time for great meals, and 2 new studies conclude that the best drink to pair them is wine, not only to improve digestion, but also to avoid having to make more holes on your belt.

The first study comes from the University of Navarra, and is part of the SUN project (Monitoring of the University of Navarra), which intends to follow the habits of thousands of people to find healthy norms of behavior.

They found that drinkers of beer and spirits tend to gain weight, gaining an average of 120 grams each year, while wine drinkers showed no weight gain. "There was no apparent association between wine consumption and weight change per year, or the risk of developing obesity," wrote the authors of the study, scheduled for publication in a forthcoming issue of the medical journal "Nutrition."