Niche Wine Blog

What, No More Wine Headaches?

As wine drinkers, you've all been acquainted with this scenario at one time, or many times: you drink some wine, especially with dinner, you're feeling pretty good, and then the next day, or even as little as a few hours later you have a little monster creeping up that turns into a full-blown, throbbing headache. 

Well, there may be a way to avoid this in your future.  Chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a device that can detect chemicals, biogenic amines, found in wine that may be the culprits of these agonizing headaches.  They've been able to do this by working with the same NASA-funded technology designed to find life on Mars. 

These chemicals also occur naturally in many foods, so when drinking wine with food, these headaches can become worse depending on the foods you eat and the wine you drink.  Read More

Red Wine Improves Cholesterol and Circulation

It's not often you hear that drinking a little more than half a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon a day, yes, a day, can have health benefits.  But, alas, scientific study has shown this to be the case - well, sort of.

An article by Jacob Gaffney of Wine Spectator highlights a study, published in the September issue of Nutritional Journal, that found reduced cholesterol levels and increased circulation in people, young and old, who drank a half-bottle of red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, nightly.   

In the past, studies have tended to focus strictly on treating heart-ailments in older populations, rather than preventing them in younger age ranges.  Paul Lewandowski, the co-author of this study, said "he and two other researchers from different medical schools in Australia sought to determine whether younger people differed from older ones in their ability to benefit from drinking red wine."  The study proved successful, but that's not to say it should be totally relied on, as it was limited.  In other words, don't start drinking 1/2 a bottle every night just yet.

To read more, follow this link.

Become a Better Thinker...?

It seems as though there's always some sort of study conducted to determine the affects of wine on some health issue.  These studies usually fall in two broad categories with the first being the affect of overconsumption and the second being the affects of moderate consumption.  Usually, with overconsumption we hear how wine correlates to stroke or coronary heart disease.  Ironically, wine consumed in moderation (typically a glass a day) can help deter these adverse health issues. 

Well, recently there was a study conducted and published in Stroke & Neuroepidemiology that suggests: people who drink in moderation may be able to think more clearly than those who don't drink at all, or those that drink excessively.  I read about this in the latest Wine Spectator  Magazine this weekend.  The article entitled Drinker's Are Better Thinkers, Two Studies Suggest grabbed my attention immediately because I'm always interested to see what new "mad scientist" data is floating around out there.  Wine Spectator's Jacob Gaffney mentions how this study "compared cognitive performance of nondrinkers, light drinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers to see if alcohol consumption had any correlation to brain deterioration."   The study was broken up into two parts: Neuroepidemiology and Stroke.  The Neuro study, in testing cognition function of more than 7000 people, found that moderate and light drinkers had better cognition skills than excessive and non drinkers.   Similarly, the Stroke study, which looked at cognition performance via blood flow to brain, found that moderate and light drinkers had better cognition than non and heavy drinkers.  What's even more interesting is the individuals that showed these results were women.  Men didn't perform quite as favorably. 

So, not only does wine cure the common cold, help the heart, improve health related to obesity in mice, it also makes you a better thinker!  I'm not saying whether or not I believe because I don't have enough information to go on.  I just get a kick out of reading these tidbits on wine and health.  To see specifics, read the article on Wine Spectator online (note: you do have to be a member).