French Paradox - Does Wine Really Help To Live Longer And Healthier?

The “French paradox” is a name and theory that first got under the limelight in 1991, when scientists Serge Renaud and Michel De Lorgeril published a paper in the journal Lancetentitled “Wine, alcohol, platelets, and the French paradox for coronary heart disease”. 

This seems to be an apparent contradiction, given that the link between elevated consumption of saturated fats and a higher risk of coronary heart disease is well proven. In fact, in the US and the UK, where consumption of saturated fat was essentially similar to France, mortality for coronary heart disease was much higher, which supported what the authors called the “French paradox”.

Possible explanations for French paradox

The findings are there – data don’t lie. But how do scientists explain this? The French paradox implies that one of two things are true: (1) the hypothesis that links saturated fat consumption with the increased risk of coronary heart disease is not entirely or not at all valid; or (2) there are some aspects of the French diet or lifestyle that mitigate the risk of coronary heart disease, regardless of saturated fat consumption.

Naturally, both premises generated a lot of media interest and various investigation projects ensued to try and find the right explanation to the observation at hand. The second premise, in particular, raised much curiosity. If a simple lifestyle or diet factor were behind the “French paradox”, then it would be paramount to identify that elements of  lifestyle and make sure they are established elsewhere to avoid cardiovascular diseases and, as a consequence of that, save millions of lives around the globe.

Red wine consumption might be a key factor

When questioned about the possible explanation of the French paradox, Serge Renaud simply replied “Low-dose alcohol consumption”. More specifically, the consumption of red wine. It appears that the lifestyle factor that differentiates France from other countries is the red wine consumption. Renaud himself found, in the 1970s, that alcohol had some fibrinolitic and atheroprotecting effects. Studies in rats showed that, upon the withdrawal of alcohol, there was a rebound effect and the platelets became stickier than normal. After further study, Renaud reported that alcohol causes a dose-dependent inhibition of adenosine-diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation, the same effect that is achieved by the use of Aspirin. “Aspirin and alcohol share effects and mechanisms”, Renaud stated in 1990.

See Also: Saturated Fat, Unsaturated Fat, And Trans- Fat - What Is The Difference?

Now some dieticians and health practitioners do recommend to consume one glass of red wine daily. Many researchers link these recommendations with rapidly growing demand for quality red wine worldwide.

It has been proposed that red wine’s protective effects are due to the fact that, in relation to its alcohol content, red wine has a higher percentage of phenolic compounds (with antioxidant activity) than other drinks. The resveratrol and polyphenol constituents of red wine, in particular, have been the subject of much research.

Red Wine Does Contain Ingredients Beneficial For Cardiovascular System

Resveratrol, a strong antioxidant found in red wine, does in fact inhibit the metabolic activation of carcinogens, has anti-inflammatory properties, decreases cell proliferation and induces apoptosis. Resveratrol is now available in the form of pills from the majority of well-established supplement providers. The compound is surrounded by various claims of multiple benefits (most of which, unfortunately, are not based on really solid scientific evidences) which even include the ability of compound to increase the longevity and help people live longer.  However, it is present in very low concentrations in red wine and, consequently, the amount of wine necessary for resveratrol to produce any biologically relevant effects is incompatible with the toxic effects of ingesting such a high quantity of alcohol.

Unlike resveratrol, procyanidins are present in wine in quantities that seem to be high enough to be significant and they seem to be the component of red wine that provides with the greatest degree of protection to human blood-vessel cells. A team of investigators found that in the European areas characterized by increased longevity (which is considered as an indicator of overall good health), the locally produced red wine actually has higher concentrations of procyanidins.

Nevertheless, the currently available evidence is not conclusive and the paradox remains. And let’s not forget that while studies generally support the hypothesis that moderate alcohol consumption decreases overall cardiovascular disease risk, it is associated with other medical problems, such as liver cirrhosis.

French Paradox – real effect or just a statistical illusion?

They think that the observed connection between French lifestyle or diet and the apparently better cardiovascular health can be caused by two statistical distortions:

• The first source of error could come from the underestimating of coronary heart disease mortality. According to this hypothesis, French physicians may not declare all the coronary heart disease deaths as coronary heart disease, which is obviously a source of bias.
• The second error might be associated with the time-lag hypothesis. Some scientists propose that the difference is due to the time lag between the increases in consumption of animal fat and subsequent increase in the serum cholesterol concentrations and the ensuing raise in mortality from heart disease. According to these researchers, the consumption of animal fat and products containing it increased in France only recently, while in the US and UK this happened long time ago.

See Also: Surprising Benefits of Red Wine

It is easy to see that the first hypothesis is extremely hard to prove, while the second one would require additional studies in the future to be fully confirmed. In the meantime, the discussion on the “French paradox” still goes on and attracts plenty of attention. Researchers all over the globe are trying to devise the right study protocols and data collection methods in order to carry out a scientifically sound, objective investigation that will allow the mystery of the “French paradox” to be unraveled once and for all.