For over 2000 years, wine has been a widely used and unique antiseptic in the annals of medical and surgical history. It has been used to bathe wounds and make unpotable water safe to drink. The fact that wine contains about 12% ethyl alcohol by volume no doubt accounts for much of its historical medical value. But there’s more to it than that.

You may remember the “French Paradox,” that segment of CBS’ “60 Minutes” show in 1991 which noted that French men, who ate rich, fatty foods, lived much longer than their health-conscious American counterparts. Why? They drank wine, especially red wine, every day with their meals. The show focused international attention on mounting evidence that moderate consumption of alcohol was associated with a reduced risk of death, especially death caused by coronary disease.

How about today? A leading expert on the subject of the medical benefits of moderate wine consumption is Dr. Harvey E. Finkle, clinical professor of medicine (hematology/oncology) at the Boston University Medical Center and the founding chairman of the Committee on Health of the Society of Wine Educators. His SWE manuscript titled In Vino Sanitas defines what is meant by moderate consumption of wine — in other words, what is acceptable use versus abuse? According to Dr. Finkle, “Since the first target organ of lasting alcohol toxicity is the liver, our definition of a safe upper limit (below which we might consider ‘moderate’) is determined by the threshold for liver damage. For men, lasting liver damage may begin to appear at an average consumption of 60 grams of ethanol per day. Liver mavens, therefore, figure that healthy men can safely average up to 40 grams of alcohol daily. It is not safe to binge-drink, then average one’s consumption: the peaks on weekends are likely to exceed safe thresholds, even if averages including near weekday abstinence seem moderate.”

So what does this mean to you? A typical bottle of wine holds 25.4 ounces that contain about 72 grams of alcohol. So, 40 grams of alcohol—about 14 ounces of wine or two, 7-ounce glasses—per day is the safe level for healthy men. For healthy women, the safe amount is about half of that.

Many variables appear to influence our tolerance for alcohol, including size, sex, health conditions, medications, food, pregnancy and nursing. Finkle notes that moderate consumption of wine appears to be most beneficial in reducing the risk of coronary death. Four mechanisms seem to be at play:

• Alcohol favorably alters the balance of fats in the blood, helping to inhibit excessive coagulation.
  
  
• Polyphenols (principally in red wines) and flavonoids (principally in white wines) coming for the grape skins and seeds possess antioxidant properties, and inhibit the conversion of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) to an even more noxious form.
  
  
• Phenols protect against damaging blood clotting in concert with alcohol.
  
  
• Phenols may reduce narrowing of blood vessels by enhancing relaxation of their walls, thus allowing better blood flow.