Beauty at the Bar

One of the secrets of long life is moderate drinking. Here are a few ways to amp up the health benefits of your daily drink.

Ever since the Mediterranean Diet gained popularity, research has shown that moderate alcohol consumption improves health and longevity. This is not a free pass to weekend binging, by any means — you can’t average out your drinking. But one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men (preferably with meals) has been shown to lower the risk of heart disease, extend lifespan, improve the libido and reduce the chances of developing dementia.

With this in mind, we decided to see what sort of drinks might give an added boost to alcohol’s positive powers. Here’s a list of five, and why they can help.

Chilean Wine
Just about everyone agrees that a daily glass or two of red wine is good for your health. In his book “The Blue Zones,” Dan Buettner looks at communities where people reach 100 or older. A daily drink of wine is fairly common. But which is best?

First, red wine is better than white wine because it has more antioxidants such as resveratrol. These antioxidants prevent damage to blood vessels, reduce bad cholesterol and prevent blood clots. But which red wines are superior?

If you saw the movie “Sideways,” you heard Paul Giamatti’s description of how pinot noir was an incredibly hard grape to cultivate. It also grows at lower altitudes where there is more UV radiation, which means it has more tannins, a polyphenol in the skin that happens to be found in antioxidant foods like tea, walnuts, dark chocolate, cinnamon, pomegranates, and acai berries.

Finally, there is the Chile factor. Because it’s near the South Pole, southern Chile is exposed to higher levels of radiation as the ozone depletes. Hence, its wines need to have better tannins to shield the delicate berries from UV rays.

Pomegranate Vodka
While red wine is the alcohol of choice for most anti-agers, the Mayo Clinic declares: “There’s still no clear evidence that red wine is better than other forms of alcohol when it comes to possible heart-healthy benefits.”

We’ll take that as good news when it comes to the use of other types of alcohol for a daily moderate drink, like vodka. And what could be better than combining vodka with pomegranate juice for a healthy alternative?

Pomegranates are an ancient fruit native to Persia, where they were a symbol of health, fertility and longevity. Like red wine, pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants (in this case punicalagin) that are heart healthy. Research shows that punicalagin lowers bad cholesterol, reduces blood pressure and melts away heart blockages.

In one study, patients who drank an ounce of pomegranate juice a day for a year reduced their heart plaque by 30 percent. Those who didn’t drink the juice saw their plaque increase by more than 12 percent.

Precious Beer
The infamous beer belly among regular beer drinkers is clearly not healthy. But we are talking moderation here, namely one or two beers a day.

A new brand from Japan may be good for your skin. The new Precious beer contains 5-percent alcohol and 2 grams of collagen per can. The ads in Japan feature comedian Ken Watanabe declaring, “Guys can tell if a girl’s taking collagen or not!”

The new Precious beer contains 5-percent alcohol and 2 grams of collagen per can.

Collagen is a protein found in connective tissue, such as skin. As we age, collagen levels decrease and wrinkles start to form. One study last year showed that women who took 2.5 grams of a collagen peptide daily showed a 20 percent reduction in wrinkles.

As for beer itself, it’s long been associated with junky carbs like potato chips and hamburger buns. But a new study this year from China shows there may be an ingredient in beer hops that protects brain cells from damage, though further studies are still needed.

Dark Rum Dark Hot Chocolate
Who hasn’t enjoyed feeling refreshed after drinking a cup of hot chocolate on a chilly day? Now it’s time to take that good feeling to another level, with a recipe that calls for the use of dark chocolate combined with dark rum.

This recipe from Yumly.com uses 2 cups of milk, 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate (the serious bittersweet or semisweet kind), 2 teaspoons of honey, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and at least 2 tablespoons of dark rum.

What it delivers is 40 percent of your daily calcium requirement, 21 percent of your potassium needs, 20 percent of your daily iron, the heart-healthy benefits of the alcohol, and the wonders of dark chocolate.

Ah yes, dark chocolate. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the cocoa bean is rich in flavonoids and antioxidants that help cells resist damage from environmental toxins, lower blood pressure, improve blood flow to the brain and heart, and make it harder for blood to clot.

Irish Coffee
Back in the 1940s a chef in Foynes, Ireland, decided to comfort some American passengers who were disembarking from a Pan Am flying boat on a miserable winter evening. To warm them after their chilly travels, the chef, Joe Sheridan, added some whisky to their coffee, and when asked if it was Brazilian coffee told his guests no, it was “Irish coffee.”

The drink was brought to America in 1952 after a travel writer for the San Francisco Chronicle drank some in Ireland’s Shannon Airport. That recipe called for adding a spoon of sugar (preferably brown sugar) and a bit of cream on top.

But regardless of origin or recipe, what Irish coffee brings to the alcohol table is caffeine. Therein lies its added anti-aging benefits. Caffeinated coffee has loads of documented benefits. These include improvements in energy levels, memory, reaction times and general cognitive functions. Coffee may also help burn fat, improve athletic performance, lower the risk of adult diabetes, and reduce the risk of dementia, stroke, and certain types of cancer.

So drink up! Just remember to keep it moderate. Excessive drinking is definitely bad for your health. As one ER nurse said, “I can always tell if the dead guy was an alcoholic. The heart is pearly clean. Of course, the liver is totally shot.”

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