Wine and Human Health

History of wine consumption begins in prehistoric periods ; a vast majority of early nations was giving divine status to one of the most popular alcoholic drinks, simply made by fermentation of Vitis vinifera grapes. Nowadays, a unique consensus on the harmfulness of alcohol consumption exists among whole scientific society, but wine stays an exception. Numerous epidemiological studies are showing its tremendous benefit on consumer’s cardiovascular health status, and numerous in vitro studies show antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic, hormonal and other beneficial biological effects. Researchers are attributing healing properties of wine to its high content of herbal secondary metabolites, like tannins and polyphenols with the emphasis on phytoalexin resveratrol. However, it is still hard to determine the exact physiological mechanisms of those presumably beneficial compounds and therefore, more effort in new sophisticated research is required.