page_title: Health effects of wine
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Health effects of wine / History of wine in medicine / Early history
caption_attribution_description: Hippocrates (460-370 BC)
context_page_description: The health effects of wine are mainly determined by its active ingredient alcohol. Some studies found that, when comparing people who consume alcohol, drinking small quantities of alcohol is associated with a decreased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome and early death. However, other studies found no such effect.
  Drinking more than the standard drink amount increases the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, stroke and cancer. Mixed results are also observed in light drinking and cancer mortality.
  Risk is greater in young people due to binge drinking which may result in violence or accidents. About 88,000 deaths in the US are estimated to be due to alcohol each year. Alcoholism reduces a person's life expectancy by around ten years and excessive alcohol use is the third leading cause of early death in the United States. According to systematic reviews and medical associations, people who are nondrinkers should not start drinking wine.
context_section_description: When the Greeks introduced a more systematized approach to medicine, wine retained its prominent role. The Greek physician Hippocrates considered wine a part of a healthy diet, and advocated its use as a disinfectant for wounds, as well as a medium in which to mix other drugs for consumption by the patient. He also prescribed wine as a cure for various ailments ranging from diarrhea and lethargy to pain during childbirth.
  The medical practices of the Romans involved the use of wine in a similar manner. In his 1st-century work De Medicina, the Roman encyclopedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus detailed a long list of Greek and Roman wines used for medicinal purposes. While treating gladiators in Asia Minor, the Roman physician Galen would use wine as a disinfectant for all types of wounds, and even soaked exposed bowels before returning them to the body. During his four years with the gladiators, only five deaths occurred, compared to sixty deaths under the watch of the physician before him.
  Religion still played a significant role in promoting wine's use for health. The Jewish Talmud noted wine to be "the foremost of all medicines: wherever wine is lacking, medicines become necessary." In his first epistle to Timothy, Paul the Apostle recommended that his young colleague drink a little wine every now and then for the benefit of his stomach and digestion. While the Islamic Koran contained restrictions on all alcohol, Islamic doctors such as the Persian Avicenna in the 11th century AD noted that wine was an efficient digestive aid but, because of the laws, were limited to use as a disinfectant while dressing wounds. Catholic monasteries during the Middle Ages also regularly used wine for medical treatments. So closely tied was the role of wine and medicine, that the first printed book on wine was written in the 14th century by a physician, Arnaldus de Villa Nova, with lengthy essays on wine's suitability for treatment of a variety of medical ailments such dementia and sinus problems.
caption: Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, prescribed wine for a variety of ailments including lethargy and diarrhea.
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