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They may be losing out to the New World competition on taste tests, but traditional red wines from the vineyards of France and Italy are best for protecting your health.

The artery-clogging effects of a fatty Christmas dinner can be counteracted by drinking red wine from southwest France or Sardinia, research has suggested.

British scientists have discovered that red wines from the two regions boast the highest concentrations of a chemical that underlies the drink’s well-publicised benefits for cardiovascular health.

Wines from Nuoro province in Sardinia, and Gers in the foothills of the Pyrenees, are particularly rich, containing up to ten times more of the beneficial compounds than alternatives from Australia, South Africa and the United States.

The notion that a daily glass or two of red wine is good for the heart has been established by studies showing that moderate drinkers are less likely to suffer from heart disease than teetotalers. Regular red wine consumption has also been proposed as an important element of the “Mediterranean diet”, which is thought to explain the greater longevity of people living there.

These benefits are known to derive, at least in part, from a group of antioxidant chemicals called polyphenols, which protect the condition of the blood vessels. The new study, published in Nature, has identified that one particular group of polyphenols, known as polymeric procyanidins, offer the greatest degree of protection to human blood-vessel cells. Pro-cyanadins suppress production of endothelin-1, a protein that constricts blood vessels.

The team, led by Professor Roger Corder, of Queen Mary, University of London, and Professor Alan Crozier, of the University of Glasgow, then sought to establish whether wines from particular regions were especially rich in procyanidins.

Reds such as Cannonau from Nuoro and Madiran from Gers were found to have between two and four times more pro-cyanidins than other red wines. They also had the greatest effect on endothelin-1 production in the laboratory.

This may have an effect on the wider health of the local populations: both regions were selected for testing because of census data showing that they have above-average longevity, particularly for men.

Two small 125 millilitre glasses of Madiran wine a day would provide between 200 and 300 milligrams of procyanidins, which studies of grape extract suggest is enough to lower blood pressure.

More research is needed, however, to determine how procyanidins in wine affect human health. “The traditional production methods used in Sardinia and southwestern France ensure that procyanidins are efficiently extracted,” Professor Corder said. “This may explain the strong association between consumption of traditional tannic wines with overall wellbeing, reflected in greater longevity.”

Wines that are rich in procyanidin are more difficult to make to high standards. They have a tannin-heavy taste and tend to be expensive.

Smooth, sweet and very alcoholic wines that dominate the mass market are not generally high in procyanidins.

Procyanidins are also found in dark chocolate, apples and cranberries.

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