The French Paradox and Other Random Wine Facts
How is it that the French can eat such rich foods and drink wine like water and still be a healthier overall nation than America? This study, over 20 years ago, led to the term the French Paradox and suggested red wine was the cause of their prolonged heart health (as opposed to the poor health stats of the Irish who mostly consumed beer).
Moderation is always key as in everything usually 1- 2 glasses (depending on height and size – clearly if you are shorter and more petite – one glass will do, larger people can tolerate more. And let’s just take a moment to define a glass (5 oz people, no more) – wine glasses were not made to be filled to the brim.
It takes one cluster or 75 grapes to make one glass of wine (5oz) which is roughly 100 – 110 cal, with sweeter wines having more.
The top wine producers of the world are Italy, France, Spain and the US. The top producers in the US are California, Washington, NY, and Oregon.
Men can tolerate twice more wine than women due to metabolic differences and greater amount of the enzymes Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and Aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) that degrades or breaks down the alcohol. There are genetic differences in the types of these enzymes and those with fast ADH and/or slow ALDH get toxic buildups of a breakdown product that causes, flushing, nausea and headache. Interestingly these people are less likely to develop alcoholism because of these negative effects. These enzymes are found more in Asians.
Similarly, ~1% of people are allergic to Sulfites, products of fermentation found in all wines. People sensitive to the Histamines in grape skins will get headaches from drinking wine and Red wines are worse as they are in contact with skins longer than whites.
Women are better wine tasters because they have a better sense of smell than men.
The Vatican has the highest consumption of wine per capita than anywhere else- hmmm…
Oenophobia is the intense fear of wine.
A cork tease is someone that continuously talks about a wine they intend to open but never do.
Forget oysters, according to an Italian study, women who consume 2 glasses of wine a day have better sex.
