Association has been shown, but not causality. It could be, for example,
that the physiological and/or personality types who tend to drink
moderately (yes, the positive association only applies to rather
moderate dirnking of the magic elixir) and choose red wine are also less
subject to heart disease. No controlled double blind tests have been
conducted. Probably will never be practical to do so.
I was in a 10 year study of heart disease treatment (for those who had
no detectable disease at the beginning of the test) run by Meyer
Friedman, the cardiologist who coined the term "Type A behavior" He told
us how pleased he was for a young friend, a female MD, who was going to
France for one of those studies on red wine, dietary fat, etc. in the
French diet. He was of the firm opinion that the differences in rates of
heart disease there vs. the US were primarily attributable to cultural
and psychological differences and the resulting differences in
physiological states. So he thought the study was a waste of resources,
but was happy for his friend who would get to live in France for a
while. At the time the study I was in started, the behavioral treatment
he was testing had proven in a previous study to be the most
statistically successful treatment for prevention of further heart
attack and resulting length of survival for those who had already had a
first heart attack.
Moose
Wayne Harridge wrote:
Actually I thought somebody had already proven that drinking red wine
was beneficial (not sure why now - but who cares).
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