Every fruit and vegetable has medicinal properties besides being a quintessential part of the diet. Dr John Carmo Rodrigues has explored this property and turned them into wine
Bottles filledwith wine of beautiful vibrant colours refract the soft sunlight of theevening.
The coloursexude health and many studies have shown that including as much colour in one’sdiet is the key to fighting many diseases and deficiencies and for betterhealth. “Eating fresh fruits is the best thing you can do for your body,” saysDr John Carmo Rodrigues, a PhD in microbiology and a practitioner ofalternative medicine. He has made medicinal wines of around 130 fruits,vegetables and roots including ginger, turmeric, apple, grape, jambul, mango,guava, jack fruit and musk melon. “Medicinal wines are non-clarified wines andare made for preserving the medicinal properties of the fruits, herb or spiceof which it is made. Thus one can avail of the benefits of the fruits evenduring the season when they are not available and in places where the fruitdoes not grow,” he adds. “The medicinal value is in the suspended material inthe wine. Medicinal wines are medicines first and wines next,” he continues.
“Jambul hassugar and tannin content and is considered useful for boosting insulin levelsin diabetic patients. It is called a diabetic fighter for its hypoglycaemic(lowering sugar level) properties. It is also known for its soothing effect onthe digestive system,” says Dr Rodrigues.
Researchers havediscovered that although the French eat a lot of meat and animal fat, theincidence of cardiovascular disease is low. “This is known as the FrenchParadox,” says Dr Rodrigues. This could be because the French consume a lot of redwine. Chemicals in grapes such as resveratrol are known to inhibit cancer,heart disease and viral infections.
Pomegranate isknown to be very good for the heart. “There was a case where a person withcoronary arterial blockage drank half a glass of fresh pomegranate juice everyday and the plaque build-up was completely reversed,” says Dr Rodrigues.
Medicinal winesdo not contain preservatives and should be consumed regularly to be effective.These wines have higher alcohol content compared to table wines and thus shouldbe had in restricted quantities.
