The first time I drank wine, all my joints got warm and my ears got a burning feeling. I can attribute these effects to the fact that I was in a tropical country and I was still a child. But today, everything has changed. I never start my meal without a gulp of wine before it. And all my meals are never complete without at least one glass of wine in it.

Aside from the fact that wine helps in heating up the body in the cold European weather here, I have found a study stating its good effects. As published at CNN Healthpage, drinking a glass or two with meals may indeed help to protect against heart disease. Further support for these findings may be found in the fact that the French, who drink a lot more wine per capita than Americans do, have a third less heart disease.

Why is this so? Because wine contains phenolic chemical compunds known as flavonoids. Antioxidants are present as well due to the fact that wine is a product of fruits like grapes. These compounds and antioxidants have shown evidence to have reduce the artery-clogging propensities of low-density lipids (LDL), the "bad" form of cholesterol, as well as inhibit the formation of blood clots. Indeed, wine is good, but too much of anything is bad, so drink moderately.