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I had caffeine at lunch today. A whole cup of black tea with milk and a little bit of sugar. Just the way I like it. Mmmmm. What's the big deal, you may ask? Well, I've been completely off caffeine since my first pregnancy - whoa - about seven year ago now. (Um, where did that time go?) Anyway, as I sit here trying to form a coherent thought, I am all strung out and shaky. Oh yeah, and my hands are freezing because of the vasoconstrictor effect of the caffeine. The exact feeling I hate and why I've never felt the need to go back to caffeine.
Now red wine, on the other hand? I love love love it. I'm pretty much always cold and the vasodilator effect (opposite of vasoconstrictor) of red wine makes my hands and feet wonderfully warm after only two sips. Plus it provides a little bit of natural stress relief help...in moderation, of course. And all that wonderful naturally occuring resveratrol? That's all kinds of good, thanks to its natural blood pressure support and overall heart health benefits. It's one of the best health supplements and incredibly popular, too.
So this whole train of thought got me wanting a glass of red wine in the middle of the day. In lieu of driking at work (bad idea), I instead did some reading on a few studies done on the vasodilation properties of red wine and found this little morsel of happiness:
The varying capacities of the 16 red wines to act both as vasodilators and as antioxidants appear to be associated with the phenolic content of the wines. All wines showed vasodilation and antioxidant activity, but a wide range was observed. A Bulgarian young vatted cabernet sauvignon (phenolic-rich) has high antioxidant and vasodilation capacity, while beaujolais, with a low phenolic content, is distinguished by considerably lower vasodilation and antioxidant activities.*
What have I learned here? Cabernet Sauvignon: good for me. Beaujolais? Eh. Just as I always suspected.
How about you? Can't open your eyes without a heavy dose of caffeine? Or would you rather kick back with a nice glass of vino? Or are you pro both?
*Excerpt taken from study titled Antioxidant Activity, Vasodilation Capacity, And Phenolic Capacity of Red Wine. Jennifer Burns, Peter T. Gardner, Jennifer O'Neil, et al., Relationship Among Antioxidant Activity, Vasodilation Capacity and Phenolic Content of Red Wines, J. Agric. Food Chem. 48(2): 220-230
Now red wine, on the other hand? I love love love it. I'm pretty much always cold and the vasodilator effect (opposite of vasoconstrictor) of red wine makes my hands and feet wonderfully warm after only two sips. Plus it provides a little bit of natural stress relief help...in moderation, of course. And all that wonderful naturally occuring resveratrol? That's all kinds of good, thanks to its natural blood pressure support and overall heart health benefits. It's one of the best health supplements and incredibly popular, too.
So this whole train of thought got me wanting a glass of red wine in the middle of the day. In lieu of driking at work (bad idea), I instead did some reading on a few studies done on the vasodilation properties of red wine and found this little morsel of happiness:
The varying capacities of the 16 red wines to act both as vasodilators and as antioxidants appear to be associated with the phenolic content of the wines. All wines showed vasodilation and antioxidant activity, but a wide range was observed. A Bulgarian young vatted cabernet sauvignon (phenolic-rich) has high antioxidant and vasodilation capacity, while beaujolais, with a low phenolic content, is distinguished by considerably lower vasodilation and antioxidant activities.*
What have I learned here? Cabernet Sauvignon: good for me. Beaujolais? Eh. Just as I always suspected.
How about you? Can't open your eyes without a heavy dose of caffeine? Or would you rather kick back with a nice glass of vino? Or are you pro both?
*Excerpt taken from study titled Antioxidant Activity, Vasodilation Capacity, And Phenolic Capacity of Red Wine. Jennifer Burns, Peter T. Gardner, Jennifer O'Neil, et al., Relationship Among Antioxidant Activity, Vasodilation Capacity and Phenolic Content of Red Wines, J. Agric. Food Chem. 48(2): 220-230
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