Effects of Red Wine in Stroke Recovery

Red wine has long been known to provide many health benefits such as lowered risk of heart attacks, cancer prevention and anti-aging. It is also considered valuable in stroke recovery.

Reason

Studies conducted by a team from Johns Hopkins University found out through a series of experiments that with regular drinking of red wine, the brain is protected from damage when a stroke takes place. This was discovered when they experimented on mice by feeding them grape skins and then injecting a stroke-inducing drug.

Component

Resveratrol is the component found in red wine that provides protection to the brain. It is abundant in the skin of the grapes and is known to produce amyloid-beta, a peptide to help enhance memory. But more importantly, in stroke patients, Resveratrol has a neuro-protective component that saves the brain from damage.

Epidemiology

According to the American Heart Association, drinking red wine reduces stroke damage and even heart attacks by 32 percent. The optimum health benefits can be achieved when Resveratrol concentration in the wine is high.

Dangers

Although red wine has numerous health benefits, people should not drink more than one to two glasses per day. Excessive drinking can cause breast cancer and increase chances of high blood pressure.

Advice

Choosing a good-quality wine is important, because a well-fermented wine has the most potent effects and contains a high level of Resveratrol. In addition, people should consider their body weight to find the appropriate limit on drinking wine; the heavier you are, the more amount of wine you can drink.

Other Treatments

A patient may also opt to undergo stroke rehabilitation. It usually takes about 90 days for significant improvements to appear, but this does not always guarantee positive results, as 20 percent of patients who suffer from strokes become completely dependent on other people for conducting their daily activities.