Copyright 2006 Daily News Central

Drinking wine is believed to provide greater health benefits than drinking beer. The additional benefits may be due in part to an associated healthier diet, researchers theorize.

Wine drinkers eat more olives, fresh fruits and vegetables, low fat dairy products, poultry and lean cuts of meat, according to a recent study. Beer drinkers were found to eat more pre-cooked packaged foods, sugar, chips, soft-drinks, cold cuts, sausages and fattier cuts of meat.

Shopping Habits Studied

Food and alcohol shopping habits were investigated by a team from the National Institute of Public Health in Denmark. Researchers analyzed 3.5 million transactions, chosen at random from 98 outlets of two major Danish supermarket chains over a six month period. They evaluated the link between the purchase of beer and wine together with various food items.

Customers were categorized as "wine only," "beer only," "mixed," or "non-alcohol" buyers. Details of items bought, the number and price of the items, and the total charge for each customer's transaction were recorded.

Wine Buyers Purchase Healthier Foods

The results indicate that people who buy and presumably drink wine purchase a greater number of healthy food items than those who buy beer, according to the authors. Wine buyers purchased more fresh, low-fat foods, while beer buyers bought more processed, high-fat foods.

The study results also support findings from the United States and France that indicate wine drinkers tend to eat more fruit, vegetables and fish -- and less saturated fat -- than persons who prefer other alcoholic drinks.

Other Lifestyle Factors

The health benefits of drinking wine may be due to a combination of specific substances in wine and different characteristics of people, researchers add.

Thus, it is crucial that studies on the relationship between alcohol intake and mortality adjust for other lifestyle factors besides eating habits, including drinking patterns, smoking, physical activity, education and income.

The Meditteranean Diet

If you want to enjoy a longer life, eat a Mediterranean diet: lots of vegetables, legumes, fruits and cereals, along with plenty of fish. Keep your intake of saturated fats low but your consumption of olive oil high. Avoid dairy products and meat -- and enjoy that glass of wine now and then.

Elderly Europeans who eat that way enjoy longer life expectancy, according to another study published online by the BMJ last year. The evidence suggests that such a diet may be beneficial to health.

Lower Death Rate

That study involved over 74,000 healthy men and women, aged 60 or more, living in nine European countries. Information on diet, lifestyle, medical history, smoking, physical activity levels and other relevant factors was recorded. Adherence to a modified Mediterranean diet was measured using a recognized scoring scale.

A higher dietary score was associated with a lower overall death rate. A two point increase corresponded to an 8 percent reduction in mortality, while a three or four point increase was associated with a reduction of total mortality by 11 percent or 14 percent respectively.

So, for example, a healthy man aged 60 who adheres well to the diet (dietary score of 6-9) can expect to live about one year longer than a man of the same age who does not adhere to the diet.

Plant Foods, Unsaturated Fats

The association was strongest in Greece and Spain, probably because people in those countries follow a genuinely Mediterranean diet, according to the authors.

Adherence to a Mediterranean-type diet, which relies on plant foods and unsaturated fats, is associated with a significantly longer life expectancy, and may be particularly appropriate for elderly people, who represent a rapidly increasing group in Europe, they concluded.

About the Author

Rita Jenkins is a health journalist for Daily News Central, an online publication that delivers breaking news and reliable health information to consumers, healthcare providers and industry professionals:
http://www.dailynewscentral.com

A synopsis on Cabernet Wine.

Wine Drinkers Eat Healthier Foods Than Beer Drinkers


Copyright 2006 Daily News Central
Drinking wine is believed to provide greater health benefits than drinking beer. The additional benefits may be due ...


Click Here to Read More About Wine ...

Featured Cabernet Wine Items

The FTD Bromeliad - Deluxe


An exotic plant that is a popular house plant. A beautiful decoration for any home or office. Pot is 6" in diameter, plant size will vary. C37-3460D


Price: 55.99 USD



News about Cabernet Wine

Hall Winery Cabernet Awarded 97 points by Brian Pasch

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 11:34:15 PST
Brian Pasch, wine writer and critic, upon returning from his quarterly Napa Valley winery tour published his "Top 10 Wines to Buy Now" report. The top rated Cabernet in the report was the 2005 Hall Diamond Mountain Cabernet which received a score of 97 out of 100 points.

Lil Jon Released Collection of Wine, Little Jonathan Winery

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:31:06 PST
Lil Jon has just released a collection of wine which reportedly includes a merlot, chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.

Traveling to Napa Valley by way of a Cabernet tasting

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:13:38 PST
Napa is synonymous with New World wine as Vatican City is synonymous with the pope. This is pretty much where the American wine industry flourished; where that little French grape known as Cabernet Sauvignon attained a whole new dimension.

Mayo Cabernet - Side-by-Side Comparison

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:47:21 PST
I tasted two different vintages of Cabernet from one of my favorite wine makers side-by-side to see how they compared. This was a lot of fun, as you can imagine. To make it even more fun, the grapes were from different vineyards.The two wines tasted were the 2005 Mayo Rich’s Cuvee Cabernet from the Los Chamizal Vinyard in the Sonoma Valley.

Does the price of wine change how it tastes?

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 21:31:14 PST
SCIENTISTS AT CALTECH and Stanford recently published the results of a peculiar wine tasting. They provided people with cabernet sauvignons at various price points, with bottles ranging from $5 to $90. Although the tasters were told that all the wines were different, the scientists were in fact presenting the same wines at different prices.

Film star Paul Newman, Wine Country partners, to sell Newman

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:16:33 PDT
Film legend Paul Newman and his Newman's Own Inc. high-end food company plan to start selling two premium California wines, a chardonnay and a cabernet sauvignon, early next year.


Buy Wine
Wine Coolers

Labels: Wine Education | Wine Enthusiast

&type=page">