Mortality and the Aging Process

October 11, 2008 | by Lorrie LeBeaux | Lifestyle

Let me start by saying, I am not a doctor. I hold a B.S.  degree in Public Health/Health Education from Dillard University of New Orleans.  My other credentials include, that I’ve been a wine enthusiast for over 25 years. It started when I entered college, and is still a passion of mine until today.

I decided to do some research on wine and mortality and the aging process. I went back to the 1700’s and 1800’s. I researched Benjamin Franklin who lived in the 1700’s. He loved wine, and has a wine quote from Beekman Wines and Liquors in Glen Rock, N. J. “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance.” —- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin. Go to www.beekmanwine.com/factsquotes.htm to read all the wine facts and quotes.  I agree with Ben Franklin. When I have a glass or two of wine, I feel calmer and ready to solve some of my problems. Benjamin Franklin lived in the 1700’s, born in 1706 and died in 1790. This was before modern medicine, and the life expectancy was age 41. Benjamin Franklin lived to the ripe old age of 84; this was twice the life expectancy age of 41 years old. Back then, life was filled with disease that shortened the average person’s life span. The wine in which Ben Franklin drank, I’m assuming was a Bordeaux or red wine.   We now know that there is a molecule that is an active ingredient in red wine called reservatrol. This is called the wonder substance to work the same way as does calorie cutting. The dramatic reduction in calories has been shown to increase the life span of mice, rats, and monkeys. Go to www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/09.18/12-anti-aging.html.  So, it could be that, the red wine made old Ben Franklin out live his peers!  And maybe that’s why he was an inventor. I know that when I drink I think and when I think I drink. So, the wine has some advantages.


Another historical person to take note of is Thomas Jefferson our third President of the United States of America. Thomas Jefferson was born in 1743 and died in 1826. He loved wine; he even tried to grow grapes, to make wine on his estate, Monticello. He brought plantings from Europe, and really wanted to have a vineyard. But, unfourtantly it did not work. But, nevertheless, he had the resources to obtain and cellar great wines for his and his quests consumption. He too lived in a time before modern medicine in the 1800’s, when the life expectancy jumped to the age of 50 versus 41 in the 1700’s. A wine quote from Thomas Jefferson, “No nation is drunk where wine is cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage.”

So, maybe the red wine helped him live to the ripe old age of 83. And let us not forget he fathered many children, so the wine may have increased his virility? Who knows, but it is fun to think the wine helped make all those children. The only one who knows is God and his wife and black mistress (Sally).

Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were friends and wine buddies. There is a book, An Evening with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson:  Dinner, Wine, and Conversation by James M. Gabler.  Visit www.thomasjefferson.net/bacchuspress.html to obtain information on purchasing the book.

I would have loved to see the lavish table settings, the wine and food pairings and heat the literal words from the lips of these two highly historical, wine loving men.

There have been so many claims to red wine being the magic anti-aging food that I’m starting to believe it. All things should be done in moderation. A great steak with a glass or two of red wine sends me into seventh heaven if they are both of a good quality.

On my Yahoo homepage, red wine was listed as one of the seven best ant-aging food sources. They listed, chocolate, nuts, olive oil, wine (red) yogurt, fish and blueberries. I eat most of these things on a regular basis. But, I must confess that I bought blueberries to put in a blueberry martini. I bought some Stirrings Blueberry Martini mix from Dillard’s. It happened to ring up under $3.00 so I bought some and a bottle of Stolichnaya, Stoli  Blueberi, Blueberry Flavored Vodka. I really don’t care for vodka, but his was so smooth, I went for it and loved this martini!  I had a chance to use my Waterford crystal martini glasses that I rescued from Hurricane Katrina. The vodka has a berry smell, which is so refreshing. The blueberries were my garnish for my martini. I used the rest of the berries in a fruit salad. So, I guess I will buy some more blueberries, nuts, yogurt, chocolate, olive oil, fish and red wine to live a long and healthy life. I’ll drink to that!

Now, I will give you one of my wine quotes, “Wine is a lifestyle that chooses you, then you marry.” And that is my philosophy about wine. Wine is a libation made from grapes, and hard work. The winemakers have to be skilled and the soil and weather conditions have to be good to produce great or good wine. The dedication to the land, farming and harvesting grapes are a labor of love; and to the vineyard owners, wine makers, grape pickers and all involved in the process, I thank you!

Wine is not a tool for one to be a wine snob, but it is a libation, that has a life of its own.

To me it is like a Jeanie in a bottle, you don’t really know what its character is or what it tastes like, until you open the bottle.  That is why I love wine; there is always the element of surprise.  A few other wine quotes are worth stating, “Wine is the most civilized ting in the world—- Ernest Hemingway.

“If food is the body of good living, then wine is the soul.”— Clifton Fadiman

“Wine makes every meal an occasion, every table more elegant, every day more civilized.”—Andre` Simon

Lorrie LeBeaux writes Life’s Little Luxuries Newsletter @ lifeslittleluxuriesnewsletters.com