In last week’s post, I mentioned the bad stuff—such as the mercury–based neurotoxin thiomersal—they put in flu shots. So, I guess I should mention a meddlesome “study” published last year about the metal ion content of certain beverages, including wine. The authors accessed information on wines from 15 nations (not including the USA) and found that only three—Italy, Brazil and Argentina—had “safe” levels of certain heavy metals.

With that country qualifier, the stated conclusion of this research article is that there are “relatively high levels of metal ions in red wine, which give a very high THQ value suggesting potential hazardous exposure over a lifetime for those who consume at least 250 mL daily.” I was pleased that the article refers to one glass of wine as 250 mL, which is one–third of a standard wine bottle (equivalent to over 8 ounces—not the puny 5 ounces Leah claims to be a standard glass).

This research article, which has a very long title I like to paraphrase as “Terroir Gone Wild”, was picked apart rather effectively by fellow–wine blogger Alder Yarrow in his critique posted last year, so I won’t repeat his many good points in detail. Suffice it to say that this research article assumes that a person drinks a third of a bottle of red wine every day for life, from age 18 to 72 years (for men) and to 85 years (for women). So, I guess I’m particularly at risk. To test my mettle, I plan to skip my usual wine allotment next Thursday, just to be totally safe (or maybe I’ll wait a few more years to see what other studies get published on this subject).

Not content to simply rely on the conclusion of this article, what really piqued my interest were some of the little “factoids” tucked into the fine print, such as:

• For Vanadium, one of the “dangerous” metals, there is “…a paucity of information on the toxic effects”.
   
• Regarding Manganese, it “…has numerous uses in the body being a component of several enzymes (e.g. superoxide dismutase). It is found in a number of food stuffs including bread, tea and drinking water.”
   
• “Chromium toxicity, like mercury, is very dependent on the species and oxidation states present and is still subject to considerable debate. It is normally found in the considerably less toxic trivalent state in foodstuffs, is poorly absorbed in the GI tract and is reported to have beneficial effects on type II diabetes.”
   
• “Zinc and copper have numerous reported beneficial and detrimental effects, being essential components of many enzymes.”
   
• “Lead is commonly found in foodstuffs such as tea with a recent report of 32% of 1,225 Chinese tea samples exceeding the upper limit for lead.”

I don’t know about you, but this stuff doesn’t sound too dangerous to me, except I’ll probably continue to avoid all the tea from China.