GOOD news for those whose favourite tipple is white wine. Winemakers have created a Chardonnay that should have nearly all the alleged health benefits of red wines.
The wine, called Paradoxe Blanc, takes its name from the French paradox: why do the French suffer relatively little heart disease despite their cigarette and fat-laden lifestyle? Some researchers think it is at least partly thanks to their habit of drinking wine with meals.
Studies in many countries have shown that regular drinking of moderate amounts of alcohol protects against heart disease. And a few suggest that red wine has a stronger effect than other beverages. This could be because it contains plenty of polyphenols, antioxidants that mop up damaging free radicals and that may also help keep arteries clear of fat deposits.
Advertisement
Polyphenols are concentrated in the skin of grapes, and it鈥檚 mostly the way red wine is made that gives it a higher polyphenol content. But by selecting white grapes rich in polyphenols and altering the winemaking process to mimic that for red wine, Pierre-Louis Teissedre鈥檚 team at the University of Montpellier in France have produced a Chardonnay four times as rich in polyphenols than usual (see Graph). The extra steps in the process include softening up the mashed grapes for six days and heating the mixture to a higher temperature.
They developed Paradoxe Blanc specifically for people with juvenile or type I diabetes, as their bodies are less effective at mopping up free radicals than normal. Tests on diabetic rats show the wine restores blood antioxidant levels to close to normal, even if all the alcohol is removed. Teissedre says the results, which appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry online, suggest a glass or two a day would reduce the oxidative stress suffered by people with diabetes.
But the team has yet to show that their wine helps keep arteries clear of fat deposits and thus reduces the chances of heart attacks and strokes. 鈥淭he best way to get antioxidants is to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables,鈥� says Eleanor Kennedy of the charity Diabetes UK, in London. 鈥淧eople with diabetes should only drink alcohol in moderation.鈥�
And many experts are sceptical about the alleged health benefits of red wine, as some studies suggest that people get no more protection from wine than they do from beer and spirits. But while researchers argue over the science, winemakers are rushing to exploit the market. Paradoxe Blanc, now available commercially, is just the first of a new generation of wines deliberately enriched with antioxidants.
The key question, though, is what does it taste like? New 杏吧原创 asked for a bottle to sample, purely as a service to readers of course, but sadly it was still on its way as we went to press.