Cardiac patients at a British hospital are being prescribed two glasses of red wine a day in the hope of preventing further heart complications. William McCrea, a heart surgeon at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, west England, told the media the idea came from looking at the health statistics of France.
"As a nation they consume twice the amount of fat we do, they smoke more and don't do any more exercise than us, but their rate of deaths from heart attacks is half ours. What's the difference? They drink red wine like we drink tea," he told The Guardian.
Unfortunately for any of his wine-loving patients, McCrea also believes that cheaper red wines are best as they will contain more antioxidants than top-quality wines that have been kept for years in the barrel. His favourites are said to include Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.
The experiment is being paid for by the hospital's own charity rather than the National Health Service.
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