Aaron Berdofe's Wine and Food Experience

-Taken at Las Niñas Vineyard and Winery, Apalta, Chile, December 2009

Today’s Dietitian, a well respected magazine for nutrition professionals has a nice article on wine and health in their August issue entitled: “To Good Wine…and Better Health – The Case for Moderate Wine Consumption”

There are some great quotes from yours truly peppered throughout so give it a read to learn about what we know about how wine affects our health. The general question asked for the article is if the health benefits of drinking wine are enough for people to start drinking it regularly (and moderately). Wine producers, distributors, magazines and others in the industry will emphatically tell you “yes” without hesitation. But what does the science actually say about this? My point of view is that if you do anything for the wrong reasons you’re generally not going to get the benefits you thought you would. There is plenty of correlation with moderate wine consumption and healthy longevity in certain cultures, which could lead to direct evidence on how wine gives us a health boost when dealt with responsibly. I really do think moderate wine consumption is part of a healthy lifestyle, but let me close with a question: If you asked a rural Italian why they drink the wine that their town produces do you think they’re going to say it’s because of the health benefits?