The fall of red wine's health halo: Unraveling the truth behind the myth
«The answer to the riddle, the explanation of the paradox, may lie in this inviting glass,» Safer said, raising a glass of red wine to viewers.
Doctors believed that wine had «a flushing effect» that prevented blood clot-forming cells from clinging to artery walls, Safer said. This, according to a French researcher who was featured in the segment, could reduce the risk of a blockage and, therefore, the risk of a heart attack.
At the time, several studies had supported this idea, said Tim Stockwell, an epidemiologist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. And researchers were finding that the Mediterranean diet, which has traditionally encouraged a glass or two of red wine with meals, was a heart-healthy way of eating, he added.
But it wasn't until the «60 Minutes» segment that the idea of red wine as a virtuous health drink went «viral,» he said. Within a year after the show aired, red wine sales in the United States jumped 40%.
It would take decades for the glow of wine's health halo to fade.
How our understanding of alcohol and health has evolved.
The possibility that a glass or two of red wine could benefit the heart was «a lovely idea» that researchers «embraced,» Stockwell said. It fit in with the larger body of evidence in the 1990s that linked alcohol to good health.
In one 1997 study that tracked 490,000 adults in the United States for nine years, for example, researchers found that those who reported having at least one alcoholic drink per day were 30% to 40% less likely to die from
