Reason to toast-Wine is food!

January 06, 2008

Wine is a food. That's why you may purchase wine in grocery and food stores.

According to Matthew During, a molecular pathologist, "if we, who enjoy a glass of wine at dinner, will treat wine like a food, we will consume it like a food at mealtime."

In During's recent study – testing the affects of alcohol intake on rats – at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and the Ohio State University in Columbus, with co-author professor Maggie Koler Zylinska, they found that "drinking alcohol in moderate amounts may improve the ability to create and maintain memories properly."

These pathologists also found that rats that drank alcohol in moderation "seemed to have superior cognitive skills when compared with non-drinking and heavy drinking rats," and "we do believe that these results are relevant to humans."

To begin their study, these researchers separated the rats into groups. One group was fed the standard diet and water. Another group was served water with an ethanol (polyphenol alcohol – which is different from distilled spirits) content of 2.5 percent. The third group was served water the 5 percent ethanol content. The latter two groups represented moderate and heavy drinking, respectively.

Following five weeks of feeding the rat groups, the pathologists began a series of behavior and memory tests. The results of these tests indicated that: 1) The moderately drinking group performed best – exhibiting the "greatest cognitive ability"; 2) The rats that didn't drink performed second best followed by the heavy-drinking rats.

Upon further examination, professors During and Zylinska found that: 1) The brains of the heavy-drinking rats showed "measurable levels of damage" which would have impaired the rodents' cognitive ability on many levels; 2) The moderatly drinking rats showed "no brain damage."

In exploring his research, Prof. During said, "The main point of my research is that light to moderate consumption of wine each day is not associated with long-term memory impairment." This study was published in the September issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Now for some good news for wine lovers and the American Wine Industry! Finally, with wine being acknowledged as a food, the ATF is proposing that wine labels contain nutrition facts as to the amount of carbohydrates, fats, protein and sodium found for other processed foods.

Since wine does not contain fat, protein or sodium, the wine industry stands to gain from this label change. Now people who worry about their salt and fat intake will know about the wine they enjoy drinking. They will become more aware that "good wine" is food and also know that drinking wine in moderation can be good for your health. So why not have nutritional information on wine labels?

Buddy Harrell, Bennett Vineyards