I agree. Both the Bible and the SOP make it clear drinking alcohol must be avoided at all cost.

This is from Time, August 2,2010.

Stroke, Straight Up?

Just one alcoholic drink can double the risk of stroke during the hour after it's consumed, a new stuey found. Beer, wine or liquor can make blood platelets stickier and raise blood pressure, which may promote the clots that cause stroke.

Suzanne

Health benefits of red wine purely commercial, new study says- 1-14-12

Scientists from the University of Connecticut stated that a number of studies that previously discovered a positive effect from the consumption of red wines, turned out to be false.

About five years ago, experts led by Dr. Dipak K. Das confidently declared that they discovered the benefit of antioxidants, namely resveratrol, in red wine, Newsmax.com.ua said. As stated by the researchers, the component contributed to decelerating the process of aging.

Later came an anonymous report in which Dr. Das and other laboratory staff were accused of fraud. The report also enumerated 146 facts of data fudging. In this regard, a formal investigation began in 2008. It was revealed that Dr. Das had received $890,000 of grants for the research, reports Likar.info. The study thus proved to be a commercial advertisement rather than a scientific research.

Simultaneously, the university health center, which employs "Dr. Red Wine", has recently refused to accept another grant from the federal government. The grant was going to be provided to the defamed scientist for his further "scientific" research on the important subject.

In addition, all other earnings from various external sources for "Dr. Red Wine" were frozen. To crown it all, the expert will most likely be fired from the Health Center at the University of Connecticut.


http://english.pravda.ru/news/science/13-01-2012/120226-
red_wine-0/

Posted from another web site.

Suzanne

Interesting information.

So there aren't any health benefits whatsoever?

No Alcohol Intake Safe in Pregnancy

Any alcohol consumption during pregnancy -- especially during the second half of the first trimester -- puts the newborn at risk for fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), results of a study showed.
...
"Based on our findings, there is no safe threshold for alcohol consumption during pregnancy with respect to selected alcohol-related physical features," the authors concluded. "Women who are of childbearing age and who are contemplating or at risk for becoming pregnant should be encouraged to avoid drinking, and women who are pregnant should abstain from alcohol throughout the pregnancy."

Primary source: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Rsearch
Source reference:
Feldmen HS, et al "Parental alcohol exposure pattern and alcohol-related birth defects and growth deficiencies: A prospective study" Alcohol Clin Exp Res 2012; DOI: 10.111/j.1530-0277.2011.01664.x.

Suppose there were health benefits to red wine. Removing the alcohol would not affect them. However, if you required the removal of the alcohol, you can bet there would be an outcry from those claiming there were benefits!

Many people enjoy wine because of the taste. If you could preserve the taste while removing the alcohol content, there would certainly be a market for that (just like there's a market for decaffeinated coffee or diet coke).

I guess that surprises me. Maybe it's the only people I know promoting "health benefits" Except I think they are implying beer, too.

A tragic and stunning case of scientific fraud in studies on red wine and resveratrol

by Tony Isaacs

(NaturalNews) In yet another stunning example of scientific research fraud, the University of Connecticut leveled charges of widespread scientific fraud against a prolific researcher earlier this year. The university identified the researcher as Dr. Dipak K. Das, a director of the university's Cardiovascular Research Center (CRC) and a professor in the Department of Surgery, whose work reported on the health benefits of resveratrol and red wine.

The University of Connecticut identified instances of fraud in 26 suspect articles published in 11 journals and sent a copy of an investigative report it conducted to editors of the journals. The university said that it was freezing Dr. Das' research and returning two new grants totaling $890,000.

Dr. Das has been a prolific research publisher, with several hundred articles published, including 117 articles on resveratrol. Though leading researchers in the field do not consider Dr. Das a major research figure, there is little doubt that his work has been influential. According to Thomson Scientific's Web of Knowledge, 30 of his papers have been cited more than 100 times, including one cited 349 times and another cited 230 times.

Resveratrol is a type of natural phenol produced by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi. It is also found in abundance in the skin of red grapes and in other fruits. However, red wine actually contains relatively little of it. Resveratrol has been produced by chemical and biotechnological synthesis. Nutritional resveratrol supplements are derived primarily from Japanese knotweed.

The scientific fraud and grant money were all too easy

Rather than negatively reflecting on resveratrol, the significance of the case seems more to reflect on how easy it is for researchers to doctor and invent data to produce fraudulent results and the general system of apportioning research money. Though researchers often complain that federal grants are increasingly hard to get even for high-quality research, money seemed to have flowed freely to Dr. Das.

Though the reported fraud does not invalidate other studies on the health benefits of resveratrol, it nevertheless gives an unwarranted black eye to a promising compound which other studies have indicated is anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective, prevents cancer, increases energy, lowers blood sugar and extends life.

The investigation of Dr. Das's work began in January 2009, two weeks after an anonymous allegation was made to the university about research irregularities in his laboratory. A special review board produced a 60,000-page report thatwas subsequently forwarded to the Office of Research Integrity, a federal agency that investigates fraud by researchers who receive government grants.

The review board report stated that as head of the lab and senior author of all but one of the suspect articles, Dr. Das "bears principal responsibility for the fabrication and/or falsification." Furthermore, the evidence "strongly suggests" that Dr. Das was directly involved in faking images for publication and that some of the evidence was found on his personal computer.

According to the report summary, Dr. Das's published research articles were found to contain 145 instances of fabrication and falsification of data. Many involved cutting and pasting photographic images from a type of research record known as a western blot. In the past, western blots have often been subject to manipulations.

The organization Retraction Watch reported that Dr. Das has had ties with supplement companies who sell products related to his research. One company sold a resveratrol supplement and has widely promoted Dr. Das work, including using Dr. Das in a widely broadcast infomercial, where he touts resveratrol as "the new aspirin". Another company used Dr. Das to help commercialize a substance in grape skins called proanthocyanidin.

Sources included:

http://www.nytimes.com
http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756865
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol

Comment: This is repitition of another article but I feel the imformation is important enough to be repeated!

Suzanne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipak_K._DasPhoto of him at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-5...ake-data-uconn/

Easy money, help the doc out. Ooops. Now their products are tainted and was it worth it? On to the next product. But how often until supplements as a whole get a bad rap?

Hey, can we make beer out of knotweed?
Or fry it, or extract it, or.....anything but eat it and a variety of other fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains prepared in a simple manner?