For centuries the French have ingested a diet rich in saturated fats and high in carbohydrate and protein. Research has shown that in other societies where these dietary habits were prevalent, there was a co-prevalence of arteriosclerotic heart disease and stroke. Not so with the French. Why? It appears that the French’s love of red wine and its daily consumption, from infancy, afforded them protection against these dietary indiscretions. Analysis of red wine shows that it contains high levels of

flavonoids that are leached out of the grape seed by the fermentation process. These antioxidants were found to work in the same way as has been previously described for the pine bark.  More recent research has shown red wine to also contain resveratrol and scientists now postulate that it is this combination of flavonoids that give red wine its cardio protective qualities.