Alcohol Content…Why So High?

Let’s
examine whether an increase from the 12 or 13 percent, to
which we have been accustomed in table wine, to 16 or 17
percent is likely to influence either the adverse or
beneficial effects of wine upon health.

To ask a
question whose answer seems obvious, what has changed in the
wine’s composition? Leaving organoleptic matters to the
previous article by Aimsel Ponti, very little other than the
alcohol. Acids are certainly lower. Other compounds are
likely to have changed negligibly. We’ll look at the
possible effects of the extra alcohol on mind and body, and
some of the details of what’s unlikely to change.

The behavioral
effects of alcohol are too well known to belabor here. They
are difficult to predict, for they depend on size, sex,
absorptive state, drugs, experience, and rate and quantity
of alcohol imbibed. Because women’s stomachs contain only
about half the neutralizing enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase as
do men’s, the same dose of alcohol is likely to go twice as
far in women as in men. Hence, the general recommendation
that women drink half as much as men in the moderation zone.
(When we share a bottle, therefore, I have rights to
two-thirds, my wife to one-third.) We all know that alcohol
is more potent on an empty stomach than when accompanying a
meal, which is what it’s for anyway. More alcohol is
absorbed from bubbly than from still wine. Some medications
may potentiate alcohol, some may modulate it. Because we
acquire tolerance, the impact of a small drink on one
innocent of alcohol may exceed that of several large
measures on a regular drinker.

For those used
to calibrating their intakes so that they can keep
themselves under perfect control and can drive home safely,
ignoring or being ignorant of the extra power of one of
these wines may be dangerous and a legal liability. Remember
to stay within safe limits.

The medical
adversities that may be caused by excessive alcohol depend
on susceptibility, quantity and duration of drinking. They
range from alcohol-induced headache to a long list of
horrible disorders. The liver is the organ most susceptible
to damage, the canary of drinking. Only if an intemperate
wine drinker switched to mainly high-alcohol wines would
there likely be additional measurable negative effect on an
already poisoned body.

Dry wines derive
virtually all their calories from alcohol (seven calories
per gram). They contain virtually no carbohydrates, no fats
nor proteins. In fact, wine is not a source of any of the
accepted nutrients or vitamins, although it can stimulate
appetite. A four-ounce glass of twelve-percent dry wine
contains only about 😯 calories, not an important amount.
Increasing the alcohol content to, say, 16 percent would add
only about 27 more calories – not an issue.

The extra
alcohol is not likely to add to the health benefits of
drinking. Once your intake is within the moderate range,
increasing it has not been reported to help further. Some
studies suggest that increasing the frequency of drinking,
while keeping the total quantity within safe limits (average
of two or so glasses of wine per day for men, half that for
non-pregnant women), is ideal for health. So, more is not
better with respect to alcohol – au contraire.

The
concentration of beneficial antioxidant polyphenols has not
shown a predictable pattern in various grapes or with
reference to degrees of ripeness, so we cannot expect
increased health benefits from these compounds in the wines
made from superripe grapes.

One segment of
the population may need to pay special attention. Because of
genetically determined differing enzyme functions, many
people of eastern Asian descent, and some others, accumulate
acetaldehyde, the first breakdown product of alcohol in the
body, soon after consuming alcohol. This highly toxic
compound produces florid facial flushing, runaway rapid
heart action, and even circulatory collapse. Those of this
group who can enjoy modest wine intake might be tipped over
into a toxic state by high-alcohol wine.