Red wine best for human health

When the choice is red wine or gin, choose red wine – at least when considering your heart's health.

That's according to a recent study by Jefferson Medical College researchers, who compared the effects of drinking either red wine or gin on several biochemical markers in the blood. Red wine contains many complex compounds including polyphenols, which are absent from gin. They found that drinking red wine had a much greater effect in lowering levels in the bloodstream of so-called "anti-inflammatory" substances that are risk factors in the development of heart disease and stroke.

The results, which appeared recently in the journal Atherosclerosis, didn't surprise co-author Emanuel Rubin, M.D., who led the study. "It's clear from these results that while drinking some form of alcohol lowers inflammatory markers, red wine has a much greater effect than gin," says Dr. Rubin, Distinguished Professor of Pathology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, reports Medicalnewstoday.com

According to Hindustantimes.com both wine and gin showed anti-inflammatory effects and had reduced levels of fibrinogen, which clots blood but is not an inflammatory marker, and IL-1, which is. But red wine also dramatically lowered the levels of inflammatory molecules such as adhesion molecules, and proteins in monocytes and lymphocytes.