Sips of health

The possible balance between wine and health 

The relationship between wine and health is the subject of an almost eternal public debate which often has very little scientific outlines and which tends to an easy polarization of positions: on one hand those who see wine and alcohol as absolute enemies for health; on the other hand those who – with a certain superficiality – show themselves benevolent towards alcoholic excesses or try to attribute certain beneficial properties to wine which, unfortunately, science has not demonstrated yet.

In this forest of conflicting opinions, Sorsi di salute(“Sips of Health”) by Michele Scognamiglio is a useful and very pleasant compass that, starting from the complexity of wine and its biochemistry, shows in a simple but accurate way what happens to our body when we consume this drink (and also other spirits), debunking a series of clichés, revealing some “special effects” of wine and resizing, with great disenchantment, the scientific scope of some discoveries. Biochemist and specialist in food science, Scognamiglio pays particular attention also to polyphenols, especially Resveratrol, to demonstrate that there is a very clear line between the benefits that these substances bring with certainty to the vine and those potential for the body that ingests them.

In conclusion, far from claiming that alcohol can be in any way therapeutic or beneficial, Dr. Scognamiglio explains to us, with competence and with a pinch of lightness, how wine can, however, be part of a balanced diet within a healthy lifestyle, which finds its points of reference in common sense and awareness of oneself and the own body.

A moderate position, therefore, which in the book is argued with the use of solid scientific knowledge and which avoids a too punitive healthism towards food and wine pleasures, while clearly warning about the risks associated with the consumption of alcohol and the ease with which very often people – sometimes for marketing, sometimes for sincere optimism – embrace the alleged miraculous power of natural substances such as the already mentioned polyphenols.

Michele Scognamiglio, Sorsi di salute. Il vino senza frasca, 2018, Cuzzolin http://cuzzolineditore.it/libri/sorsi-di-salute/

– The Editorial Group, September 8th 2020