Korva is a scroll of the internet’s best ideas.
No alcohol protects your heart
The red wine belief
Cardiologists once thought a glass of red wine a day might be healthy, and the credit went to the skin of the red grapes. That has not held up, and the recommendations keep evolving. The less alcohol, the better for heart health, brain health, and cancer risk, as well as the stomach.
Moderation
Everything in moderation is the working rule, with tobacco the only never. Hard liquor works out the same way as wine, since the alcohol content is what counts and a dollop of Scotch is far less than a small glass of wine.
What can be sustained
Sustainability matters too. If strict avoidance makes someone so miserable that one day they have four glasses of wine or a 48-ounce porterhouse, nothing good comes of it. The aim is a way of eating and drinking that can be kept up without misery.
Why did red wine seem healthy at first?
The French paradox gained wide attention in the United States after a 1991 segment on 60 Minutes, which noted that the French ate rich food yet had low rates of heart disease. Many early observational studies found moderate drinkers had less heart disease than people who didn't drink at all. Later analyses suggested the non-drinking group included former drinkers who had quit because of illness, which made abstainers look unhealthy. Researchers call this the sick quitter effect.
How does alcohol raise cancer risk?
The body breaks alcohol down into acetaldehyde, a compound that damages DNA and blocks its repair. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classified alcoholic beverages as a Group 1 carcinogen in 1988. Evidence links alcohol to cancers of the mouth, throat, esophagus, liver, colon, and breast. The risk rises with the amount consumed.
Did the grape skin compound ever pan out?
Resveratrol is a compound in the skins of red grapes, and early laboratory studies suggested it protected cells. The amounts in a glass of wine are small compared with what those studies used. A 2014 study in JAMA Internal Medicine followed older adults in the Chianti region of Italy, where resveratrol intake from diet was high, and found no link between it and longer life or fewer heart events.
More from Next Question with Katie Couric
