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Just a word of warning - the Po valley has the greatest number of UFO sightings in europe, it also has the highest consumption of red wine! (allegedly)

Moderation is the key word and it is true that a glass of wine with your meals has excellent therapeutic effects. Many doctors are in favour of a moderate consumption of red wine in particular.Very interesting article.

There is a lot of rubbish written about the benfits of wine.  I have a large folder and a few books on the subject.  The consensus these days is, that wine, both red and white in moderation is beneficial, as are other alcoholic drinks to a greater or lesser extend.  Now moderation is a term that can be bent in all sorts of direction.  For a start women can generally take in less with harmful side effects than men.  Sorry girls, fact of life.  It's to do with a greater proportion of body fat storing the alcohol.  The body also takes in alcohol at different rates, depending on how you inbibe and when and with what.  It is generally true that alcohol taken in with food is absorbed more slowly into the body.  Hence the practice of binge drinking in the UK is worse than drinking a similar amount over a long extended �������� meal with numerous courses.There is some evidence that red wine (a glass or 2 a day!) has beneficial effects on the heart, but the same is true of Whisky for example or brandy.  Alcohol in general (again in moderation) has a stress reducing effect.  In the Middle ages wine or beer was served to sick patients, mostly because the water was so bad.  The great thing about wine is that no organisms harmful to human health have any chance of surviving in the acid and alcoholic environment.  However many modern wine makers have a list of other additives, both legal and illegal, which can have a negative impact on health.On problem I'm still working on is, how come that, when you've been drinking alcohol all night, you wake up the next morning and are still thirsty?????

Quote Heiko:"There is some evidence that red wine (a glass or 2 a day!) has beneficial effects on the heart"That's true.My father applies the well known rule of the apple, to the wine:"A glass of wine a day, keeps the doctor away".. actually he often - if not everyday - drinks a half glass of red wine at each meal.For wine lovers, here's a selection of the best (sardinian) wines..Enjoy and ..drink it with moderation.. :)

Lots of research goes on each year into the effects both positive and negative that Alcohol, in its various forms, has on ones' body. The only consistency that seems to be published is that Red Wine in moderation (I'll leave you to decide what is moderate) is overall beneficial, as alcohol does relieve the symptoms of stress; acts as an antioxidant; and thins the blood thereby lowering blood pressure; and if shared amongst friends, enhances the positive effect of well being.But again all in Moderation.

Valentina:  Yes absolutely, there cannot be anything wrong with that rule. Gromit: Yes it's true, but evidence shows that the difference between white and red wine is negligable.

Sorry Andrew, no offence intended, but I do not need a medical degree to diagnose that you suffer from the "doubting Thomas syndrome". The benefits of wine in moderation have been explained by a variety of professionals throughout the media. If you are a person who reads papers, watches news and tries to keep up to date with information, you must have seen and heard hundreds of positive comments about this matter;  however, if you are still have doubts, here is an article from a qualified nutritionist which may help you:By the way, our family doctor has always recommended us to have a glass of wine with our meals. Anyway, if we have to show our credentials each time we give an opinion about any subject, this would be a very boring and empty place.

Andrew you are right to question the authority.  The reports in the media is exactly what I was trying to warn against (no offence Gala).  I have studied for my Master of Wine, although never quite got around sitting the exams.  I have collected a huge folder of scientific info, much of it contradicting.  There's a book written on the subject by an Australian Doctor whose name escapes just now, will tell you as soon as I find it.  The red wine is better than white wine "myth" came from an American Documentary some 10 or 12 years ago, which was based on circumstantial evidence of peasants in Southern France having lower incidence of heart disease.  It became known as the French paradox.  Later studies have confirmed that the difference between red and white wine is minimal and in fact Danish studies confirmed that the Aquavit is also good, the same way as Scottish scientist praised the health giving properties of Whisky. I have been part of the wine trade for 20 years, so it has always been in our interest to exagerate every good news story.  There are benefits of alcohol consumptions as there are damages effects.  As with everything balance and moderation are th key words.  If you listen to every scare story about food stuffs potentially giving you cancer, you'd stop eating.  The same goes for the fabled olive oil.  No doubt healthy, but alledgedly causing cancer when heated to over 65 degrees celcius.  But hey I still use olive oil in all my cooking, I drink wine, sometimes more than I should, I live an active life, I consume meat in moderation, and vegetables these days only from our own land without a trace of any chemical sprays except from general environmental pollution. You live like that, you live as long as your genes will allow unless you get run over by a bus; oh and keep of the fags of course.

There are several studies made in Australia on the subject, even a recent "miracle wine" created by an Australian doctor: From my personal experience, I can tell you that in the 90´s, a well known private hospital in Queensland (Australia), started serving a small glass of wine to their patients together with their meals when they were convalescing. Both my mother and myself were patients there at different stages and we saw it happening. Doctors and nurses were convinced that this had a very beneficial effect on convalescents. Certainly, some people were not part of this experiment because of other health problems, but overall it was a great initiative and they noticed that the patients were asking for less sedatives after their small drink.Regarding how you feel thirsty the following day after drinking..... alcohol, particularly in excess, causes dehidration. It is always a good practice to drink lots of water to counteract.As for olive oil.... yes, it has great beneficial effects, particularly if you compare it with other oils, but we should remember that it is still a FAT. All in moderation... That´s the key word.

That with the "still being thirsty", was a joke of course.  Just like my "wildebeast theory".  You know the way that wildebeast only ever move in large herds.  The herd can of course only run at the speed of it's slowest member.  Lions being quite clever creatures go and catch those slowest members, the young, the old or the sick.  So consequently, as the lions pick off all the weaker members of the herd one by one, the whole group can move faster.  Follow me so far?  Now apparently,,, ecactly the same happens with brain cells and alcohol.  The alcohol only kills off the slowest brain cells, leaving the rest of the brain to think faster.  That's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks for your kind offer of a chart for studying the colour of my Pee, but I will decline, as the thought of holding a sample in front of my monitor (can't print it as no colour cartridge) does not appeal. I use the addage of drinking at least 1.5 litres of fluid a day (not including Wine)

I know that if I gave up wine now I would live longer. Alcohol requires  a degree of processing through the body which puts a strain on the liver and heart and which reduces ones life expectancy. There are few medical professionals who would argue with that. However, stress, being unhappy, pondering the state of the universe and all those other issues which health professionals who concentrate on the effects of alcohol overlook, also have an extremely detrimental affect on life. A sociable drink with friends, over a meal, sometimes to excess, makes me a very happy and relaxed individual. Given the choice of living to 90 years old in a state of constant sobriety or holding on until 85 and having a good time leaves me with an easy decision to make and I will carry on with my tipple without fear of instant death.Having paid into the NHS and reached the distinguished age of 50 years I do not worry about whether I am a drain on the health service as I have taken little out of it thus far. Selfish, maybe, but happy, definately.By the way, I am not an expert in anything but enjoying myself.  Live life as you want, just leave me to live mine as I want as well.Cheers and see you at the pub, bar, ristorante or anywhere else they serve a social drink.

Make mine a large one.......cheers..!!

Hey count me in, whose round is it?

...and I told the landlady, me money was spent!  I'll bring me banjo!  To bring this back onto a serious level again for a second (one has to take on the wrongs of the world at the pub table sure), I just found this link: .  If you read this carefully there are a lot of maybe's and possiblies in there.  So in other words, they haven't got a clue, they're just guessing.

My default position is that everything is an OWT unless I happen to agree with it, in which case it's a flash of brilliance.That goes twice for anything on an interweb forum........To add my own non-expert views: in the Middle Ages everyone drank beer.  Water only came from dirty rivers and filthy wells and wasn't nice to drink.  I don't think they knew about germs then, but they knew they didn't like water.Eastern countries, on the other hand, drank tea.  Boiling the water obviously made it palatable and killed off the bugs.My neighbour Luigi must be a bit of a hangover (!) from those times - he only drinks wine - never water.  He's 77 and still out in the fields every day.  OTOH - Maria his wife is teetotal and just as hardworking.

Here another link on the subject, written by a friend of mine: .  Again, it's a maybe or maybe not.  He also ignores the fact that white wien, whilst having lesser amounts of reservatols, also does not have reservatol "inhibitors" as many red wines have.  Can't remember what the substance is, but can look it up if anyone wants to know the technical details.

According to this story, beer is good for menopausal women!