Wines Found Contaminated With Metals
Reported October 31, 2008
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — If youre living by the idea that wine protects your heart with antioxidants, you may want to consider new research that states otherwise.
In a recent study, researchers analyzed metal levels in wines from sixteen different countries and found many commercially available wines contain potentially hazardous amounts of metal ions. Results show only wines from Argentina, Brazil and Italy lack metal contamination.
Researchers used an Environmental Protection Agency formula called THQ to measure metal ion levels in wines. A THQ above 1.0 is considered hazardous. Results show typical potential maximum THQ values were between 50 and 200. Values for both red and white wines were high, with values between 30 and 80 based on a 250 mL glass per day.
These findings contradict the popular belief that drinking red wine daily protects one from heart attacks in part because of antioxidants in wine. Both hazardous and pro-oxidant metal ions were found in the wines studied.
Study authors recommend levels of metal ions should appear on wine labels.
SOURCE: Chemistry Central Journal, 2008;2:22