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Is Resveratrol the Answer to the French Paradox?
It was in 1819 that an Irish doctor named Samuel Black got interested in his observations of the French. This group of people enjoys eating food high in calories, and yet they live to be healthy and free from any coronary heart diseases compared to the any other average human. This is called French paradox and Resveratrol, which is found in the red wine that the French always have on their tables, is being pointed as the reason why the French live longer despite their careless eating habits.
Of course, many would find some argument as the experts try to prove their theories. What mainly drives the mass skepticism about the French paradox and Resveratrol is that there is just a minimum amount of this phytochemical in red wine. It would take about 500 to a thousand bottles of red wine everyday for one person to achieve the right dosage that would give him immunity. There really is no concrete proof about this, but the French continue to fascinate other citizens of the world with how they have managed to live longer with the kind of bad diet that they have.
In the United States, the French paradox and Resveratrol were presented in a way that red wine or alcohol can reduce the risks of heart diseases. In 1991, a TV program released this red wine packaging based on the French paradox and soon, wineries increased their sales to 44 percent. This prompted the industry to start building a new image or positioning for red wine, which is as a health food.
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