PROVE IT
Wine does aid digestion
March 13, 2010
THE CLAIM
A glass of wine with dinner aids digestion.
THE FACTS
Pairing the right wine with a meal can round out flavours and stimulate conversation. But can it really help digest the meal, as suggested by a host of authorities through the ages, even the Bible? ("Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.")
Millenniums later, scientists are still working on that one. Some have found that alcoholic beverages speed the emptying of food from the stomach and stimulate gastric acid, while others maintain there is little effect. One study by German researchers, in the aptly named journal Gut, may explain the discrepancy: It found an effect from fermented drinks (wine, sherry and beer) but not from drinks that were fermented and distilled, like rum, cognac and whisky.
"The alcoholic beverage constituents that stimulate gastric acid output and release of gastrin are most probably produced during the process of fermentation and removed during distillation," they concluded.
Other studies help explain why red wine and red meat pair so well. Protein softens the wine's tannins, while red wine helps counteract potentially harmful substances – oxidized fats called malonaldehydes, or MDA – released when meat is digested.
A 2008 study found that a serving of dark meat from turkey elevated levels of the substance in subjects' blood. But when turkey was combined with a glass of cabernet sauvignon or shiraz, the increase in MDA was "completely prevented."
THE BOTTOM LINE
In more ways than one, a glass of wine may aid digestion.
The New York Times
Toronto Star
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