Wine-drinkers 'risking Parkinson's with every glass'
Regular wine-drinkers risking increased chance of contracting Parkinson's disease with every glass
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Thursday, 30, Oct 2008 06:31
Regular wine-drinkers risk an increased chance of contracting Parkinson's disease every time they have another glass, a groundbreaking report said.
According to UK researchers, the vast majority of wines pose a health risk to drinkers through "potentially-hazardous" levels of metal ions.
Of the wines from 16 different countries analysed by Kingston University scientists, only those from Argentina, Brazil and Italy did not pose a health risk.
Professor Declan Naughton and Doctor Andrea Petroczi used the target hazard quotient – based on the published upper safe limits for various chemicals – to determine which wines could be hazardous.
Most wines analysed had a value "well above" 1.0, which is non-hazardous.
Many vintages had a THQ of up to 200, while wines from Hungary and Slovakia hit 300.
Professor Naughton said his research raised a "major question mark" over the supposed health benefits of wine.
"These values are concerning, in that they are mainly above the THQ value of 1.0. Excess intake of metal ions is credited with pathological events such as Parkinson's disease," he writes in Chemistry Central Journal.
"In addition to neurological problems, these ions are also believed to enhance oxidative damage, a key component of chronic inflammatory disease which is a suggested initiator of cancer."