The whole red wine health debate kicked off with the “French paradox.” Researchers noticed that people in France chow down on a lot of fatty foods and have high cholesterol, yet they don’t seem to have as many heart issues as folks in other countries with similar diets. Since red wine is a regular part of their meals, they figured it might be the reason.
A bunch of studies have looked into red wine and its components, and yeah, there are some benefits. But let’s not go overboard and call it a miracle cure.
So, what’s the deal with red wine? It’s packed with polyphenols, which are these cool chemical compounds that act as antioxidants in our bodies. You’ve got flavonoids like catechins, quercetin, and anthocyanins, plus another group called stilbenes, with resveratrol being the superstar.
Resveratrol supplements can help with blood pressure and brain blood vessel function, but we’re talking about pure resveratrol here, way more than you’d get from sipping wine. Plus, resveratrol and other polyphenols don’t stick around in the body for long, so they can’t directly zap those harmful free radicals that mess with our cells.
That said, plant antioxidants can still be helpful. For instance, if you enjoy wine with fatty foods, those polyphenols can help counteract some of the bad stuff that comes from fats. They can also kickstart some processes in your body that fight inflammation and protect against damage.
But here’s the thing: it’s one thing to look at the individual parts of red wine, and another to see how the whole mix of polyphenols and alcohol affects your health.
So, is red wine actually good for you? Surprisingly, some of the health perks can be linked to the alcohol itself. In moderation, ethanol can boost good cholesterol and thin the blood, which lowers the risk of clots. A study with nearly 14,000 older Americans over 23 years found that moderate drinkers had a 15% lower risk of dying, and it didn’t matter what they were drinking.
Another study with 38,000 men showed that moderate drinkers were less likely to have heart attacks compared to non-drinkers, regardless of how much they drank daily.
There’s also research from Denmark involving 24,500 people that found moderate wine drinkers had a lower risk of dying from heart disease and cancer compared to those who didn’t drink or chose other types of alcohol. Even people with alcohol dependency who drank wine had a lower death rate than those who preferred other drinks.
A study of 18,000 Spaniards over 12 years found that moderate drinking could lower the risk of death by about 25%, but only if they were drinking wine, mostly red, and having it with meals.
A small Spanish study showed that drinking two glasses of red wine a day with meals for two weeks boosted antioxidant production and genes linked to longevity.
Another study found that wine drinkers who had one to two servings a day had lower inflammation levels than beer drinkers or non-drinkers. Plus, red wine seemed to help produce more antioxidants compared to white wine or vodka, especially when paired with fatty foods.
So, if you enjoy red wine in moderation and with healthy meals, it can be a nice addition to your diet.
But let’s be real: drinking too much red wine is just as risky as any other alcohol. No amount of polyphenols will save you if you’re downing more than two servings a day.
Overdoing it can lead to high blood pressure, heart issues, liver problems, and even increase cancer risk. It can mess with your immune system and lead to memory issues or mental health problems like anxiety and depression.
So, if you’re a heavy drinker, swapping out your usual spirits for red wine isn’t going to do you any favors. You’d be better off cutting alcohol out altogether.
Is drinking red wine good for your health, and how should you do it? If you don’t drink, don’t start just for the health benefits. You can get polyphenols from other sources like coffee, tea, grape juice, and berries. And if you’ve struggled with alcohol addiction, it’s best to steer clear of wine.
If you do drink moderately and can easily skip alcohol without feeling bad, consider switching to wine. Just keep these tips in mind:
- Go for dry red wine since it has the most polyphenols.
- Stick to one drink a day if you’re a woman and two if you’re a man. One drink is about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is roughly 140 grams of wine with 12% alcohol.
- Don’t try to make up for missed days. If you haven’t had a drink for a couple of days, don’t think you can have three drinks in one go without consequences.
- Always have wine with food. Think whole grains, veggies, fruits, plant-based proteins, fish, and lean meats.
- If you find yourself pouring another glass after dinner or can’t imagine a meal without alcohol, it might be time to take a break.
