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JULY 2010 HEALTH & HAPPINESS 30 DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH Almost 500 years ago, a famed Swiss physician named Paracelsus wrote, "Wine is a food, a medicine and a poison. It's just a question of dose." Scientists are only now finding out how right he was. Within the last five years, a huge body of research has emerged, showing how wine, coffee and even beer can give the drinker better health. Studies done as early as 2005 show wine can reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. Scientists think this is because of compounds in the wine called "flavonoids." Flavonoids are the molecules that give plants, such as grapes, their color. Fruits and flowers need flavonoids to spread their seeds. The flavonoids color attracts bees to flowers and bugs to the fruit, so they'll carry off the seeds. Red wine is packed with flavonoids, and it turns out this is great for a variety of health reasons. In the early 2000s, scientists found that antioxidant activity in the body increases WRITTEN BY PETER SUROWSKI FOOD & WINE : BY THE GLASS