Health and Red Wine

George Fox University (GFU), where I teach, is a Christ-centered university in the truest sense.  I have been on the faculty for 23 years, and during my first 18 years I was not allowed to consume alcohol.  For many years this was a common requirement for faculty at Christian universities.  Many of my friends thought this to be a silly policy but because I signed a contract promising I would abide by this requirement  I did not touch a drop.  At the end of the day my integrity is important to me.

Okay, so what does any of this have to do with "Health and Red Wine?"  A few years back the university released the faculty from the requirement to abstain from alcohol consumption (as have most other Christian colleges and universities).  The timing of this decision could not have been better since my youngest son started on his journey to become a winemaker.  Now I could share this journey with him.  Interestingly wine is pretty much the only type of alcohol I consume.  For whatever reason I find trying to understand what makes a wine tick fun.  I often refer to wine as "intellectual alcohol."

When my sons were young they used to refer to all our travels as "long cuts."  So, I have taken the "long cut" to the topic of this post.  For many years I have had issues with somewhat high blood pressure.  This is understandable since stress pops its ugly head in my life with some frequency.  Oddly enough though since I have resumed moderate wine consumption (and I emphasize moderate) I have not had a single high blood pressure reading.  I am a scientist, and more specifically a physiologist.  Even so I cannot state with certainty that my consumption of red wine has resulted in my lower blood pressure.  There have been MANY reports about the health benefits of red wine, but the science associated with them is a bit thin.  Bottom line is that the jury is still out.  Even so, it is clear that my blood pressure is down since I resumed red wine consumption.  Maybe it is coincidence, I do not know.  What I do believe is that as more studies are done I am convinced that the health benefits of moderate consumption of red wine will become more clear.  The French have low incidence of heart disease (although they also have a high incidence of trashing their livers) which seems to be related to their red wine consumption.  As I find good studies that clarify this issue I will post them.