Is Red Wine Really Good for the Heart?
Let’s face it; all people would do anything to have a healthy heart. The question, however, that is most crucial, is this: when is the best time to take care of the heart?
The wise work hard to have a healthy heart early on by eating healthy and exercising regularly. Others, on the other hand, begin working only at having a healthy heart when they begin to feel that “something’s not right” with their heart. Mild chest pains, difficulty in breathing, numbness and tingling sensations in the left arm – all these can cause anxiety and fear. Then and only then will people try to change for the better, health-wise, that is.
There are also people who act only when they learn about someone who just had a heart attack. The unfortunate person can be a friend or a family member, and the medical emergency can be a fatal heart attack. This may be an unfortunate situation, but, it can also be a blessing in disguise for others because it can be a very effective tool to trigger an avalanche of emotion, at times strong enough to propel an instant lifestyle modification to give way to a healthier way of life.
So here’s the thing, for people who want a healthy heart, the best thing to do is avoid anything that will destroy the blood vessels in the heart. How? The key, according to health experts, is to live a healthy lifestyle by eating healthy and exercising regularly.
How about drinking red wine? Is it true that when a person drinks red wine regularly, it helps lower the risk of developing heart disease?
Well, according to a research conducted in the Israel Institute of Technology, red wine improved the health of the cells in blood vessels. The study, which involved giving 15 healthy adults with an average age of 29 years old 250 ml of red wine for 21 consecutive days, came up with a result which suggested that red wine consumption significantly improved vascular endothelial function. In lay mans term this means that it has significantly improved the health of the cells lining the blood vessels, which then improved the blood flow, thus improving the health of the heart. The same researches also concluded that drinking red wine every day also helped reduce apoptosis or what is known as cell death.
A concern, however, is being raised by Arthur Klatsky, MD, a senior consultant in cardiology at Kaiser Permanente Northern California. Dr. Klatsky has been doing extensive research on the relationship between drinking alcoholic beverages and health. His point is this: heavy intake of alcoholic beverages actually raises blood pressure, which is in and by itself dangerous and life-threatening. What he is saying is this: yes, red wine may help lower the risk of developing heart disease, but alcoholic beverages, in reality, especially when taken excessively, can do more harm than good.
So, will red wine help keep the cardiologist away? If you take the answer of the researchers from Israel Institute of Technology, then yes, red wine helps keep the heart healthy. If you take into consideration what Dr. Klatsky said about not taking alcoholic beverages excessively, then the answer again can be a big yes! Red wine can and may help you keep a healthy heart. Just remember to stay within the limit set, maybe by following what the researchers did to their subjects – limit the red wine to 250 ml per day.
Or if you want the best answer – eat healthy and exercise regularly. You can never go wrong if you follow these two by heart and to the letter!
Siena Lombardi is a technology writer for Phoenix kiosk, a kiosk manufacturer firm in Tempe, AZ. Phoenix Kiosk offers custom kiosks and medical kiosks for small to large size organizations
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