Wine Talk  by Professor Don Beaven       

Should people with diabetes drink wine? One is always asked the question for reasons which are not clear. Most family doctors now are fully aware of the U.S. Nurses Study, the United Kingdom prospective doctors Study, and the very important Danish Public Health Study. 

All these showed that it was safer to take alcohol in the form of wine rather than beer and spirits. Over 13,000 people in Denmark were followed for over twelve years by Professor Groenbaek and colleagues to see what happened to men and women over fourty years of age who always had a modest amount of alcohol.

Even with one glass of wine each week the rates of heart attack were lower than for teetotallers! One to three glasses of wine most nights in the week gave a very significant advantage over usual beer or spirit drinkers. For people with diabetes there have been no long term studies, but in general we know that: 

• 1. Most wines have ten to thirteen per cent alcohol and this is handled in just the same way as carbohydrate. Thus two glasses of wine on any occasion will give about another ten grams of alcohol ~ reduce carbohydrate in the meal by this extent. 

• 2. Most beer, although lower in alcohol than wine, contains residual sugar ~ and often more beer is drunk. Long term studies suggest that nitro-samines in beer have more cancer producing potential than if one drinks wine which usually has protective flavenoids. 

• 3. Countries with a Mediterranean style diet ~ where olive oil and wine are taken with high bread and past content, fresh fruit and vegetables, some fish and only meat occasionally l do have less diabetes and cancer. 

Red or White? Some people feel that a glass or two of red wine may produce headaches but almost always this is because not enough water is drunk at the same time. Twice as much water as wine is a general rule. Red wines contain nine pigmentary compounds giving colour and healthy flavenoids. As it is usually fermented to dryness it should be preferred to white wine if there is no strong preference. 

But white wines are certainly a better way to take alcohol than beer or spirit. Of the red wines currently available Pinot Noir grows best in the South Island, but is trendy and in short supply ~ this makes it expensive. Australian cabernet based reds are currently excellent value for money but when young need shiraz grapes mixed to soften the hard tannins. Of white wines our best in Canterbury are Rieslings, but make sure you ask about residual sugar. This is often not on the label but a reliable wine seller will be able to tell you the grams per litre of residual fructose. Chardonnays don’t contain more than two or three grams per litre of sugar and are usually satisfactory for most people with diabetes.

Final Warnings: Avoid spirits with tonic water, lemonade and other diluting fizzy drinks. Avoid all dessert wines (these can have up to forty grams per litre of sugar), sherries, brandies and wines labeled medium. And don’t forget that it is essential for everybody, including people with diabetes not to drink alcohol every day ~ for example one or two alcohol free days each week ~ as ten to fifteen per cent of can become addicted under stress. Remember that old Greek adage from classical times “Moderation in all things.”