Wine as a remedy since time immemorial
Thousands of Years in the Company of Wine
The favourable effect of wine on the human organism was known to the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians. The first medical school in the world, which officially recommended the use of wine in the treatment of a variety of afflictions, was created on the Greek island of Kos. Wine was exploited in practically all its forms and for a whole range of purposes – against colds, to relieve pain or as a disinfectant.
Ointments were prepared from grape juice, vine leaves helped stop bleeding and treat haemorroids, dried grapes (raisins) became a good treatment in eliminating constipation and lack of appetite. During his medical practice, Hippocrates, the most famous doctor of antique times, applied wine abundantly (for example as a diuretic and for lowering body temperature) and so did Paracelsus, another eminent figure from the history of medicine later in the 16th century.
References to wine’s healing properties can also be found in the Bible, moreover the symbolic connection between wine and blood persists in Christianity to this day. In the course of the 18th century wine was actually safer to drink than water, and that was down to its content of alcohol and its acidity which suppressed the incidence of bacteria.
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