Of course red wine is good for you. Dr Wilson quite properly points out there is scientific basis for this in his editorial “Red wine no paradox” (BCMJ 2003;45[9]:430 [10]). As well as the antioxidant substances in red wine mentioned, with lovely names like pycnogenol, it seems generally overlooked that many fruits and vegetables, including grapes, contain quite high levels of salicylate.

I had a salicylate level done on a sample of red California table wine (Napa cabernet sauvignon): 0.56 mmol/L (or 7.75 mg%). The daily recommended dose of one or two glasses would therefore provide about the same anti-platelet effect as a junior Aspirin.

This is an original observation which I have not seen published before, and I respectfully submit it to your journal as possibly a world first.

—Tony Dowell, FRCSC 
Nanaimo