If you have lots of ambitious plans for the future.

I've got a whole series of new books I want to write thousands of more videos to script,

but guess what? None of us may be able to do any of the things we want to do if

we don't have our health. Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast. I'm your host

Dr. Michael Greger. There are all kinds of claims

about the red wine compound resveratrol one is that it helps us live longer and benefits

our metabolic health but what does the science say?

And our first story we ask, is the red wine molecule responsible for the so-called French paradox?

Whereas Veratrol became a household word in 1991

when a scientist formed Bordeaux University,

appeared on the popular TV show 60 Minutes

and attributed the so-called French paradox to the French habit of drinking red wine.

The term French paradox itself was coined in the newsletter of the International Organization of Vine and Line

to explain a curious finding.

If you chart death from heart attack versus the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol consumed

in different countries, there appears to be a straight line.

The more animal-based foods populations eat, the higher their death rates appear to be.

However, two countries didn't fall in line with that straight line.

Finland seemed to be doing worse than expected, and France appeared to be doing better than expected.

Hence the paradox. How could France have saturated fan cholesterol intake similar to Finland, but five times fewer fatal heart attacks.

Everyone had their pet theories to explain the paradox.

Was it the whining?

...