Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

The risk of having a heart attack is a whopping 37 percent higher on Christmas Eve, peaking at 10 p.m., according to a study published in the British Medical Journal.

The study that revealed this was conducted in Sweden where vodka and brannvin (wine fermented from grain or potatoes) are traditionally consumed.  It is fermented red grape wine that is attributed to fewer heart attacks.

It was Dr. Serge Renaud of France who in 1992 first reported the wine drinking French who have higher levels of cholesterol paradoxically have a much lower rate of coronary artery disease and mortal heart attacks (40%) compared to North America.  This phenomenon is called the French Paradox.  Dr. Renaud attributed wine’s heart protective properties to its ability to inhibit blood clots, not cholesterol.

Grape juice does not produce the same effect as fermentation increases the concentration of protective red wine molecules by 30-fold.

Sudden-death heart attacks are caused another factor

Sudden-death heart attacks have been traced to the lack of magnesium and other electrolyte minerals (potassium, calcium, sodium) that serve to facilitate electrical impulses in the heart for heart muscle to pump blood, not cholesterol that may narrow coronary arteries.  Sudden-death heart attacks are actually electrical storms that may cause the heart to sudden stop pumping blood.

Alcohol depletes magnesium.  So, the sudden-mortal heart attack is associated with a shortage of magnesium needed to control heart rhythm.  Pumpkin seeds, almonds, spinach, nuts, are relatively rich sources of magnesium in the diet.  Regular alcohol imbibers would be wise to supplement their diet with magnesium pills.

Red wine’s secret

Red wine provides heart-protective molecules called polyphenols: resveratrol, quercetin, anthocyanidins, gallic acid, catechin, malvidin, tyrosol as well as melatonin.  The combination of these molecules has been demonstrated to exert synergistic (more than additive) effects.

Molecules in red wine have been demonstrated to protect the heart BEFORE a heart attack occurs, a phenomenon known as cardiac preconditioning.  Both resveratrol and a matrix of resveratrol + other polyphenols have been shown to spare millions of heart muscle cells from damage should coronary arteries become blocked for any reason.  When experimental heart attacks were induced in laboratory animals, resveratrol reduced that area of scarring after a heart attack from 35% to 24% (32% relative reduction) while a combination of resveratrol with other small molecules found in wine further reduced scarring of heart muscle down to 20% (43% relative reduction). (ResveratrolNews.com April 30, 2011). The darkest, longest aged wines provide more protective polyphenols.

The COVID-19 lockdowns and concerns over safety from infected hospital workers has resulted in many adults suffering with their chest pain rather than running to the emergency room or calling an ambulance.

Of course, the best heart attack is the one that doesn’t occur.  Short of that, one that doesn’t damage heart muscle.