But a dark cloud looms large in Neil Prentice’s life. He’s distraught that although the National Heart Foundation allows Red Rooster to use its well-known red tick emblem for a chicken dish, it doesn’t permit Australia’s winemakers to apply it to bottles of cardiovascular-friendly red. Mareeta Grundy, the Foundation’s National Nutrition Manager, says that while the steam-grilled chicken dish in question was high in protein, low in fat and a good source of zinc, the Foundation still considers the jury to be out on the relationship between wine consumption and heart disease. ‘The scientific evidence is anything but conclusive and we have to be quite sure that the health benefits that may exist actually do exist’, she says. ‘The Foundation’s view is that certain patterns of social consumption of wine actually outweigh the health benefit. Furthermore, wine is not necessarily considered a food product.’ Concerning stuff, but Prentice should be relieved to know that the wine question remains on the Heart Foundation’s agenda and that they’re monitoring developments. Further-more, they do not believe they have been keeping their heads in the sand.
