The Decline of Red Wine’s Health Halo: A Comprehensive Overview

In a 1991 segment of “60 Minutes”, CBS correspondent Morley Safer queried the paradox of the French populace, who reveled in high-fat foods like pâté, butter, and triple crème brie, but manifested lower rates of heart disease than the US citizens.

He suggested that the resolution to this enigma might be found in “this inviting glass,” raising up a glass of red wine to his viewers. He further expounded that doctors proposed a concept that wine exhibited a “flushing effect”, impeding cells that trigger blood clots from sticking to artery walls. This theory was promoted by a French scientist who appeared in the segment, and it was suggested as a way of diminishing the chances of artery blockages, and consequently, heart attacks.

According to Tim Stockwell, an epidemiologist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, there were several studies around the same time that lent support to this hypothesis. Additionally, researchers claimed that the Mediterranean diet, which traditionally incorporates a glass or two of red wine with meals, offered a heart-healthy approach to nourishment.

Yet, it was only when the “60 Minutes” clip made the concept of red wine as a nutritious health beverage “viral” that it caught on, according to him. Following the show’s broadcast, red wine purchases in the United States saw a 40% increase within a year.

It took several decades for the glowing health endorsement of wine to dim.

The evolution of our knowledge of alcohol and health.

The hypothesis that one or two glasses of red wine could provide heart benefits was a “pleasurable idea” that researchers “adopted,” Stockwell stated. This aligned well with the broader evidence gathered in the 1990s associating alcohol with positive health outcomes.

In a 1997 research which monitored 490,000 adults in the US for a period of nine years, it was discovered that those who consumed a minimum of one alcoholic drink daily had a reduced risk, 30% to 40% less, of dying from heart-related diseases compared to nondrinkers. Furthermore, these individuals were 20% less inclined to die from any other cause.

By the start of the new millennium, numerous studies had drawn the same conclusions, according to Stockwell. “I was under the impression that it was scientifically proven,” he commented.

However, dating back to the 1980s, some researchers had expressed concerns about these types of studies and questioned whether the perceived benefits could indeed be attributed to alcohol.

These doubts arose from ideas that moderate drinkers might be healthier than nondrinkers due to various factors, such as higher education, wealth, physical activity, access to health insurance, and a diet rich in vegetables. Some researchers even suggested that many of the so-called “nondrinkers” involved in these studies were actually former drinkers who had stopped due to health complications.

Kaye Middleton Fillmore, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, was among those urging more scrutiny of the research.

“It is incumbent on the scientific community to assess this evidence carefully,” she wrote in an editorial published in 2000.

In 2001, Fillmore persuaded Stockwell and other scientists to help her sift through the previous studies and reanalyze them in ways that could account for some of these biases.

“I’ll work with you on this,” Stockwell remembered telling Fillmore, who died in 2013. But “I was really skeptical of the whole thing,” he said.

Unexpectedly, the researchers discovered an astonishing outcome. In their updated exploration, the formerly noted advantages of moderate drinking evaporated. They disclosed their discoveries in 2006 which caused a stir as it crashed against established beliefs. The Los Angeles Times announced, “Study Questions the Assertion That Moderate Alcohol Consumption Benefits Heart Health.”

“This agitated a considerable number of individuals,” said Stockwell. “The liquor industry took enormous measures and invested plenty of resources to neutralize this unsettling news regarding their product.” In the months that followed, a group backed by the industry organized a conference to dispute the research, and they invited Fillmore to it.

Stockwell retained notes from Fillmore, in which she recounted the debate as “intense and heated, to the point I felt the urge to bang my shoe on the table to emphasize my points.”

When the symposium summary was published suggesting that “the collective agreement of the conference” was that moderate alcohol consumption was linked to improved health, Stockwell reveals that Fillmore “was livid” due to the omission of her standpoint.

Subsequent studies, including one published by Stockwell and his team in 2023, have reinforced the idea that alcohol is far from the healthful elixir it was once thought to be.

Researchers in 2022 unveiled more unsettling findings: Not only does alcohol not confer any cardiovascular benefit, but it may even heighten the likelihood of developing heart problems, according to Dr. Leslie Cho of the Cleveland Clinic.

Current research increasingly demonstrates that even daily consumption of a single alcoholic beverage can elevate the risk of health issues like hypertension and arrhythmia, both of which can potentially lead to strokes and heart failure, she added.

Moreover, the correlation between alcohol consumption and cancer is undeniable — a fact recognized by the World Health Organization since 1988.

That’s a very different message from the one patients might have heard from their doctors for years, Cho acknowledged. But the consensus has shifted.

No amount of alcohol is safe, the WHO and other health agencies have said, regardless of whether you’re drinking wine, beer or liquor.

So is wine out?

When counseling her cancer patients, Jennifer L. Hay, a behavioral scientist and health psychologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, said that many are “absolutely shocked” to learn that alcohol, including wine, is a carcinogen.

In a study conducted in 2023, approximately 4,000 American adults were polled, revealing only a meagre 20% were informed of the connection between wine consumption and cancer. This was in contrast to the slightly larger percentages aware of beer’s (25%) and liquor’s (31%) similar potential health risks.

Patients of cardiologist Cho often express surprise when advised to reduce their alcohol intake, including wine.

Responding with disbelief, they would say, “What? But doesn’t it help guard against heart diseases?”

While it is true that red wine incorporates compounds known as polyphenols, which potentially possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics, it should not undermine the fact that it could also be a health risk.

But no studies, including decades of research on one polyphenol called resveratrol, have definitively linked the amounts that you get from red wine to good health, Cho said. And there’s no good evidence that wine is less harmful than other types of alcohol, she added.

“That can be really hard to hear,” Hay acknowledged.

Whenever she tells people that she studies the risks of alcohol, “a pall falls over the room,” she said.

Hay and other researchers are not suggesting a “prohibition” on alcohol. She just wants people to be informed about the risks.

And for most people, it’s fine to enjoy a glass of wine every now and then, Cho said.

But it doesn’t help your heart, she said. “It’s just time to let go of that belief.”

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About the Author: Chris Lehoux

Meet Chris Lehoux, an experienced wine connoisseur and dedicated blogger with a deep passion for all things wine-related. With years of expertise in the industry, Chris shares insightful wine reviews, valuable wine tasting tips, expert pairing advice, and captivating tales of vineyard visits. Join Chris on a journey through the world of wine, where every sip is an adventure waiting to be savored!