Word that red wine is good for you has been around ever since “60 Minutes” famously aired a report on “The French Paradox” in 1991.The CBS television news magazine examined the question: How could the French eat all that fatty, egg- and cream-rich food and not suffer the kind of heart disease we Americans do? Regular consumption of red wine was part of the answer, the show declared. Red wine sales shot up dramatically.

Ever since, scientific studies have emerged linking consumption of red wine with good health and aging. Last November, a study sponsored by the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging found that adding resveratrol, a compound found in nuts, grapes and red wine, to the diet of aging, overweight mice had a beneficial impact on their health and survival.

“The findings are the first to demonstrate that resveratrol, an activator of a family of enzymes called sirtuins, could affect the health and survival of mammals,” the institute reported…The institute notes that much still has to be done to determine resveratrol’s safety and effectiveness in humans.

The verdict also is out with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Heart Association. Both institutions point out the health risks of drinking alcohol and urge moderate consumption, if at all. The American Heart Association defines “moderate” as one to two drinks (4 ounces of wine) per day for men and one drink per day for women…All this is sage advice, but Americans seemed to have jumped at the viniferous possibilities. A bounce in red wine sales was noticed immediately after the mice study findings were issued. Red wine sales grew by 8 percent in just four weeks, according to an ACNielsen report issued in December…ACNielsen has continued to watch red wine sales figures and it’s clear from the numbers that the increase was no mere blip on the charts. A just-released report shows red wine sales continue on a “healthy roll.”

—Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune, 3/21/07