I finally get to treat my friends the way they've always treated me -- better than I likely deserve.R ecently we have heard much about the benefits associated with alcohol consumption, especially heart disease prevention; however, all alcohols are not made equal and red wine is by far the healthiest choice.

Red wine is a complex beverage contains several thousand phytochemical compounds extracted from the grape skin during fermentation.Whether it's anthocyanidins, phenolic acids, proanthocyanidins or various flavonoids, its molecules make red wine unique, with extraordinary antioxidant potential and several biological activities beneficial to health.

One of the best-documented effects of moderate red wine consumption (two drinks per day for men and one for women) is the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.This is largely due to the marked improvement of the function of the endothelial tissue, which covers the blood vessel walls -- an effect that improves blood flow and thus reduces the risk of blood clots that can cause a myocardial infarction.

According to a recent study, red wine's positive impact is much greater than that of other types of alcohol, especially strong alcohols such as whisky, which could explain the low incidence of cardiovascular diseases among regular and moderate red wine drinkers.

Red wine is also the only type of alcohol that doesn't alter blood clotting capacity levels, another parameter associated with protection of the heart function. These observations confirm once again red wine's unique properties on the health of the cardiovascular system.

As for other alcohols, studies have identified excessive consumption as an important risk factor for the development of several types of cancer, including those of the upper digestive tract -- oral cavity, larynx and esophagus.

For example, people who consume 80 grams of alcohol per day, which corresponds to about 213 millilitres, or seven ounces, of strong alcohol, increase by 18 times their risk of developing esophagus cancer, compared to people who don't consume alcohol.

This risk increase becomes even more significant among smokers, who have 44 times more risk of suffering from this dreadful cancer.Alcohol's adverse effect on the risk of developing esophagus cancer is, however, not observed among moderate red wine consumers.

Indeed, Spanish researchers recently found that people who daily consumed 25 grams of strong alcohol (two ounces) had 2.5 times more risk of suffering from a disease than abstinent people.Conversely, people who consumed the same quantity of red wine (two drinks) didn't have an increased risk of developing the disease.

It is likely that the presence of large quantities of anti-cancer phytochemical compounds in red wine, such as resveratrol, helps to protect the cells from alcohol's adverse effects and prevent them from transforming into cancer cells.These observations remind us that it is possible to party and take care of our health.