The Nutritional Wine Index – NWI Concept
Since antiquity, wines in the Mediterranean world were not only part of the daily diet but also used as a medicine with specific and revered properties. The beneficial nutritional characteristics of wines made them an integral part of the Western civilization. Around the Mediterranean basin – the home of the wines – the ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans celebrated life and health with the wine, while the fathers of medicine observed and studied its potentials in treating afflictions of all kinds.
The unfortunate trend of “soft drinks” promoted in the second half of the 20th century and still continuing strong, has introduced into our diet a wide palate of highly toxic components such as saccharin, aspartame, Splenda and other artificials as well as an enormous amount of sucrose, fructose, corn syrup and other natural sugars. The result of this shift in diet can now be observed in the form of the epidemic increase of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, chronic degenerative diseases and the fact that statistics are suggesting that our kids’ generation will have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
Health statistics and nutritional medical studies demonstrate unequivocally that the return to a natural balanced and oxygen-rich-nutrition will save many modern and undesirable diet aberrations, with such devastating health consequences as mentioned above. Beverages in general and many wines as well can be quite acidic and therefore restrictive to Alkaline Nutritional Principles.
In contrast, low acidity wines and more so the alkaline ones can provide us with extremely important advantages in establishing a de-acidifying, respectively alkaline diet for the benefit of oxygen absorption transport and utilization in our body. Understanding wines as a nutritional component becomes essential for incorporating them into a rational natural diet.
"Medical Terroire"
The French magic word of “terroire” strives to describe the quintessential identification of a wine. . .the capture of all naturally occurring components of the wines’ native area in its taste, aroma and composition. Consequently, and paraphrasing it, the notion of “MEDICAL TERROIRE” can be introduced and established as a means of classification for a particular wine based on its medical nutritional values and properties.
Composed of many elements of medical nutritional importance the classification can be quite complex and the dietary information contained in it of fundamental importance for the maintenance of an optimal metabolism. It is the first time, based on our recent investigations, that such a classification has ever been attempted.
As part of MOSA’s NUTRIONOMICS, the NWI or the Nutritional Wine Index, the “medical terroire” will be used to express the dietary value, potency and difference of classification. The NWI will be increased in complexity as additional criteria may impose themselves as relevant in the future, with respect to, and in escalation of the METABOLIC OPTIMIZATION.
As another novelty of NUTRIONOMICS we introduced the METABOLIC OPTIMIZATION to describe the process of medical improvement of all metabolic functions, to combat and eventually eliminate the three fundamental causes of chronic, degenerative afflictions: hypoxia, acidosis and toxicosis. (More about this on www.Nutrionomics.com). As follows, the most important components of the NWI will be briefly elaborated on.
Antioxidative Value (AV)
The ANTIOXIDATIVE VALUE (AV) of the wines – in particular of the red wines, has been explored since generations. One of the main components of the antioxidant group contained in wine is resveratrol. Chemically speaking is a phytoalexin – a group of very specific components in the plants’ antimicroorganism defense mechanism and evoking a similarity to our own immune system.
In consequence, in our organism resveratrol will have a very important influence on cardiovascular health and in reduction of cancer incidences. The strong antioxidant properties of resveratrol protect our cells of DNA damaging by free radicals and has a significant antimutigen component.
In addition to resveratrol, the unique chemical components located within the grape seeds and transmitted to the wines are belonging to the class of flavenoids and are represented by the oligomeric proanthocyanidins – shortly OPCs. The OPCs are enormously powerful antioxidants protecting against environmental polluters, cholesterol, vascular stress and other cardiovascular impacts. The wine components resveratrol as well as other phyto components are essential for capturing free radicals resulting from a modern and unhealthy diet: red meat excess and refined sugars in particular are heavy producers of such free radicals, bombarding our bodies from inside, while other natural and artificial external impacts are applying biological pressure on us as well.
The AV differs widely from wine to wine, region to region, vintage to vintage and so on. Of course the higher the AV, the more beneficial the wine, medically observed, will become.
Minerals Value (MV)
The MINERALS VALUE (MV) less known as the antioxidant effects, becomes eminent important when analyzed through the oxygen medical criteria. The general status of high acidic modern diet leading to the chronic hypoxia and being responsible for all chronic degenerative disease today, forces our body into a permanent stress of acidic neutralization. This chemical process in return depletes permanently our reserves of important minerals and key elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, selenium and other trace elements.
Depending on the region of origin, the wines can contain a large and complex selection of beneficial minerals and replacement elements. The more our diet can replenish the constant loss of such elements, the faster our body can reduce the acidity and the higher the probability will be of reaching the ideal slight alkaline degree of pH 7.4 our body needs for optimal oxygen utilization and ideal metabolic values.
In particular calcium, magnesium and potassium are concentrated in the ripe grapes. Such elements will pass through fermentation process to the wine in specific concentrations depending on the grapes and their regional specifics. The approximate 300 mg of potassium in grapes may not be impressive in comparison to other nutritional components but the addition can be quite welcome considering the enormous need of this element for our cardiovascular system.
Specific volcanic regions in the Mediterranean basin will deliver very particular patterns of MVs. Areas such as Sicily, the Bay of Naples, the Azores and Madeira are well known wine producing regions since time immemorial. Their wines defer from any others based on not only the grape type but in particular on their soil of origin. When treating chronic disease a precise nutritional analysis is of undisputable vital importance. Such correct analysis and interbalance of mentioned elements and minerals can make an enormous medical impact and difference.
Volcanic rock and soil combined with water pH in the region will deliver to the vine plant the minerals in nature’s way and to particular specific times in the grapes’ development. In this complicated interaction of innumerable factors, the nutritional / medical terroire can best be understood. This complex interaction of a large number of natural elements such as soil, water, rain time, temperature, surrounding vegetation, sun / light time and man influenced elements such as harvest time, storage, processing and many others, will deliver the final product so unique that no other wine will be the same. The nutritional terroire can be seen as the wine’s ultimate ID and so particular in the reality that the region of origin of a particular wine can sometimes be no larger than a couple of hectares of a specific vineyard.
Vitamin Index (VI)
The Vitamins Index (VI), similar to the mineral value must be analyzed separately and attention must be paid to the complexity of the components. As with all other natural products, the vitamins in wines are reaching us in a natural way, the way our body was designed to receive them. Replacing the natural vitamins with pills has been attempted by the modern lifestyle with the results of today’s degenerative chronic disease.
The chemistry may create the exact formula of the natural complex and purify it to the nth degree. The natural complexity and interaction of chemicals however when consumed naturally proves to be infinitely superior to all artificial, manmade vitamins and minerals. The original accompanying enzymes and co-components, omnipresent in nature, are never available in any artificial products.
The extreme fine chemical balance and interaction may never be completely understood and therefore the natural nutritional values must be preserved at all costs. The process of fermentation being a natural process cannot be compared to an artificial vitamin/mineral production. Vitamins in wine are therefore of a unique provenience and undergo the fermentation and aging process.
Glycemic Value (GV)
Glycemic Value (GV) natural sugar content of wines differ widely. Considering the modern diet, based on an immense sugar consumption and the ever present high fructose corn syrup – the most disastrous additive in processed food, the wine sugar may not be as unfavorable for an oxygen diet as one may think. The grapes’ sugar content, as fresh fruit, may be medium high on some varieties but the GV glycemic value of wine is moderate to low.
What matters even more is that the wine glycemic load, the nutritional element of the sugar general picture, that really has any importance, is substantially low and as follows, of no great impact, considering the other dietary benefits of wine. Dessert wines may be quite sweet while others may have a low sugar content. The lower the GV, the better for the sugar consumption prospective.
We must however differentiate between highly refined glucose and fructose of processed fruit and the natural non-refined grape sugar particularly when transformed and disassociated during the process of fermentation. Alcohol content, sugar in grapes, time of crop and other factors are strongly influencing the sugar content of the final wine. The glycemic load of a consumed wine can be highly influenced by the dietary habit of the consumer himself.
"French-Mediterranean Paradox"
The “French paradox” or for that matter the “Mediterranean paradox” describing a relatively fat rich diet and daily, more precise, lunch and dinner wine consumption, can be easily metabolically explained. A certain quantity of fat – olive oil or butter – in the food will neutralize the majority of the following wine and dessert sugar based on the fact that the fat will reduce the sugar impact and absorption.
On healthy consumption the GV of wines may not represent any important factor for the oxygen diet. On nutrition in chronic afflictions, the GV of sweet wines may have to be considered in relation to the primary wine benefits.
Alcohol Index (AI)
The Alcohol Index (AI) All wines contain alcohol. Wine is an alcoholic nutritional element. Together with beer, the wine is the most common beverage and universally accepted. The alcohol in wine originates from the grape sugar transformed by fermentation process. The alcohol concentration is not always correlated with the sugar content but is connected to it. The “soft drink” era tried to replace the consumption of wine with the “corn syrup” based on the alcohol dispute.
In moderation, wine alcohol is beneficial to any balanced natural diet. If one considers the truth of the ancient medicine, that all we eat is in reality our daily medicine, then so it is with the wine alcohol. In moderation the alcohol will stimulate blood circulation, relax the involuntary muscles and will help in stress management. The AI is an important part of the MWI.
Stress Management Value (SMV)
Although not an integral part of the NWI, the Stress Management Value (SMV) of a wine was well known and utilized by ancient civilizations thousands of years ago. As part of the oxygen medicine – MOSA dedicates an entire department for the management of stress – the most destructive force of the modern civilization. The stress and its perception maintains the sympathic nerve system in constant alert. In return the adrenalin and other stress hormones are placing our body under enormous pressure with significant metabolic negative effects.
The normal physiological functions, the regulations, repair and rehabilitating mechanisms, together with the regeneration of our immune system can only perform optimally under the stimulation and control of the parasympathic nerve system. Under stress conditions the parasympathic system will be neutralized and subordinated to the sympathic system of the nerve management response mechanism.
The modern civilization has an answer to the stress as well. We manage the stress with all kinds of pills, each more disastrous than the next. Antidepressants, sleeping pills, psycho drugs and others may calm us a bit but the side effects are in no comparison to their benefits. The negative effects of the modern stress management are no part of this study. Endless pages can be written on this unfortunate subject.
In contrast to the above, if one cannot control his stress with one or two glasses of wine, then how would the side effects of the two management methods compare to each other?
The driving or operating under influence effects may be the same if originated by medication or alcohol and should be a self-restricted action of any responsible person. The difference in the metabolic side effects however cannot even be contemplated. The epidemic health collapse of the stress pill generation will be irrefutable proven in the decades to come.
Sleep Therapy Value
SLEEP THERAPY VALUE (STV) Similar to stress management, the wine offers a unique and very particular therapeutic value. The daily stress negatively translates today in our society to chronic insomnia. Endless studies provide us with solid evidence that nightly sleep at a minimum of seven to eight hours is absolutely indispensable to bodily and mental health. A sleep deprivation of only seventy two hours can have catastrophic consequences and produce reactions leading to self destruction. Only in sleep the nervous system can regenerate itself.
The immune system will operate properly only if nightly rest will follow the daily time of activity. Bed rest was prescribed to all convalescents since time immemorial and for good reason. Rest hormones, endorphins and other extremely minute hormonal transmitters, produced by our nervous system can only be replenished during undisturbed sleep.
The “pill culture” can help again here. Everyone is familiar with endless new names of pharmaceuticals marketed daily on our TV screens. Each pill from the past was later banned due to negative side effects. So it will be with all the new pills offered today. Their side effects however will accumulate in our body to haunt our health in the future.
The toxicity and the dependency potentials are always disclaimed with any pill advertising. We are all familiar with the phrase: “the use of this medication may cause…” and so on, a long list of disastrous and catastrophic side effects, and all in the name of a good night’s sleep.It was the practice of the ancients to drink a glass of wine at bedtime centuries and millennia ago, long before any “wonder” sleeping pills were ever developed.
Are there any side effects to this custom? Yes, the positive ones described above. Dependency? Hardly, alcoholism was not a rampant affliction in the antique time when everyone drunk wine on a daily basis. Observing statistics, can we say that everyone around the Mediterranean shores was and still is an alcoholic? No one is under this impression. Wine is a food and not a hard drink. Some wines are nutrition-wise more beneficial than others, but all wines will help our nutrition in promoting an optimal metabolism.
To conclude, one may say that the nightly sleep facilitated by the moderate consumption of wine is nutritionally and medically recommended and cannot be compared with the sleeping pills and their total rejectable side effects.
Contamination Index (CI)
A nutritional – medical wine must be pure an absolutely not contaminated with any artificial and manmade chemicals; at least this should be the principle. It is important to differentiate between the REGIONAL CONTAMINATION INDEX (RCI) and the PRODUCTION CONTAMINATE INDEX (PCI) in order to determine if a particular wine can be incorporated in the recommended group of nutritional wines.
Particular chemicals such as pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers, if presently utilized or if utilized in the past over the areas of origin may become present in the wine even if the chemicals have not been utilized on the vines themselves, due to geological and climatic specific conditions of the region.
Precise information about such general regional conditions must be obtained and an exact analysis of the wine must clear the product, disregarding if officially such chemicals are acceptable for wine consumption in general. Many wine regions regard some contaminants as harmless and ignore their presence completely. Such wines may be obtained on the general wine market but their CI will not make them acceptable for the alkaline nutrition and should be avoided.
The PARTICULAR CONTAMINATE INDEX (PCI) describes the presence of artificial contaminants specific to the respective wine itself and cannot be found in other wines of the same vinicol region. Over millennia wine producers have utilized a large variety of preservatives such as sulfur, antifungals and others to combat the container or barrel infestation.
Specific local rules demand the disclosure of such chemicals or trace chemicals on the production label. It is debatable if such additives can be accepted or not. The argument may be that all wines sooner or later, more or less, will show traces of manmade chemicals, impossible to completely avoid in the process of production and fermentation.
One must differentiate between highly toxic chemicals such as DDT, utilized in the past quite deliberately in agriculture, and totally banned today, and traditional as well as historical sulfur components employed since Roman times to sterilize the barrels. This example comparison will be definitely clear if one remarks that DDT will need many decades in the ground to be completely eliminated and once such a chemical will enter our system, will be stored for life in our fat tissue, since the process of elimination is impaired.
In conclusion, it is reasonable to underline the importance of total purity for wine placed on the list of nutritional / medical wines. Since the basic idea of a detoxifying alkaline nutrition is to eliminate and not to reintroduce contaminants into our system, this fundamental principle must concern our classification in particular. The list of nutritional wine benefits can continue and be diversified into specific and in depth medical studies.
MOSA is dedicating an entire study group for the medical nutrition. . . the NUTRIONOMICS with its publications on www.Nutrionomics.comwith the wines having a specific website section. Wine comparisons and reviews based on MOSA’s designed NWI are presently in development. As observed in the previous description, the nutritional classification of wines can establish pyramidal shape configuration with the, medically speaking, most indicated wines on the top. There are many excellent wines which can be qualified as true natural medicine. Some of these are quite extraordinary regarding their healing power.
The top of the nutritional wine pyramid, however, must be reserved without any restrictions or doubts to a member of the wine family not even close to the grand group of the Mediterranean wines. Its native origin is not of the Mediterranean basin and it does not trace its origin from the antiquity.
Muscadene Wine
First produced by the Spanish colonists in the 16th century in St. Augustine, Florida, the MUSCADINE WINE will be at the top of any medical nutritional wine pyramid. A genetic wonder – the Muscadine vine can produce a unique palate of phyto chemicals due to its twenty pairs of chromosomes in comparison to the Mediterranean wines with its nineteen pairs. Super resistant to disease, Muscadine can produce a truly organic wine free of toxic chemicals. No other wine, or for that matter, no other fruit at all, will come close to Muscadine antioxidant values.
The much praised antioxidant loaded fruits and extracts such as noni, pomegranate, blueberries, acai, gogi and even the top of the list, the vinifera grape seed extracts are surpassed by Muscadine, not twice but even three times in the antioxidant capacity. Muscadine wines are unique. So are their climatic and soil demands. Their nutritional “terroire” delivers the true ultimate wine of health, the best and greatest of all nutritional wines.
In the Nutrionomics, the Muscadine wines are treated in a separately dedicated section. Dietary elements such as the Muscadine wines are important staples of the METABOLIC OPTIMIZATION, easy to understand by MUSCADINE’S ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES WHICH ARE TEN TIMES HIGHER THAN ANY OTHER WINE ON THE PLANET.
In conclusion it is important to underline the medical benefits of wine as irreplaceable ingredients of a balanced and natural nutrition. The medical wines classification will be indicative of the wine due to their NWI statistics with their comparison in regard to Muscadine wine properties. Some of the wine’s metabolic and health benefits are summarized forewith:
• Powerful antioxidants
• Stress management aid
• Sleep / relaxation aid
• Reduction of cholesterol level
• Helping with detoxification
• Fortifying immune system
• Aid in lowering blood pressure
• Stimulation of digestion
• Promoting and heart and vascular health
• Anti-aging effects
• Potential anticancer properties
• Anti-inflammatory components
• Major factor in metabolic optimization
The list of benefits above may increase considerably in the future due to the new discoveries in nutrition, rational dieting and further medical research.
©2012
Dr Florian Braich PhD
All rights reserved
Neither this article in whole or part can be reproduced or reincorporated without express permission of the copyright holder.
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