A number of population studies have revealed that moderate drinkers of red wine have less heart disease than non-drinkers. As a result it has become widely accepted that a glass or two of red wine per day is good for your heart.

Writing in the 30 November issue of Nature, Professor Roger Corder from Queen Mary's William Harvey Research Institute, and Professor Alan Crozier from the University of Glasgow, explain the importance of 'traditional' style red wines for conferring the protective effects of procyanidins.

"The endothelial cells which line our arteries are an important site of action for the vascular protective effects of polyphenols," explains Corder. "We purified the most biologically active polyphenols, and identified them as procyanidins." Procyanidins are the most abundant flavonoid polyphenols in red wine - up to 1 gram per litre is found in some traditional style red wines.

The team tested wines from two specific regions in southwest France and Sardinia, associated with increased longevity, to see if they differed to wines sourced from other countries across the world. The 'traditional' wines revealed surprisingly high levels of procyanidins, with often five to 10 times more than some new world wines.

The results suggest that while a glass or two a day can benefit your heart, not all red wines provide the same amount of heart protecting polyphenols. Professor Corder concludes: "The traditional production methods used in Sardinia and south western France ensure that the beneficial compounds, procyanidins, are efficiently extracted. This may explain the strong association between consumption of traditional tannic wines with overall wellbeing, reflected in greater longevity."

By Queen Mary University London