Red wine contains beneficial nonalcoholic compounds that appear to inhibit chemical reactions that result in clogging of the human arteries and often lead to fatal heart attacks, according to a new study by a team of researchers at UC Davis. The study may explain what has been called the "French Paradox" -- the relatively low rate of coronary heart disease among the French who, on the whole, consume a high-fat diet, as well as a significant amount of wine. "Red wine contains several antioxidant compounds that may delay the narrowing of arteries caused by the accumulation of fatty deposits and formation of dangerous blood clots," says co-author John E. Kinsella, an authority on the biochemistry of dietary fatty acids and dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "Regular consumption of modest amounts of red wine may reduce the instance of sickness and death from coronary artery disease." The UC Davis study suggests that nonalcoholic compounds known as phenolics have an important "antioxidant" effect in the body that prevents narrowing of the arteries and formation of blood clots.