In moderation and as part of an overall healthy diet, then wine does have health benefits, particularly red wine. Wine has been proven to reduce the risk of heart disease, some cancers and reduce the progression of disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. Beware, Drink more than the recommended amount and your health benefits are lost and your health risks go up.
The health benefits of wine became apparent when scientists began to study the “French Paradox”. Renaud and colleagues from the University of Bordeaux found that moderate wine consumption (2-3 glasses a day) was associated with a 30% reduction in the death rate from all causes; a 35% percent reduction in death rates from cardiovascular disease; and an 18-24% reduction in death rates from cancer. “The results of the present study,” the researchers write, “appear to confirm the speculation that the so-called French Paradox is due, at least in part, to the regular consumption of wine.
There are many benefits that have been studied over the years and not all are the obvious ones. There are some of the known and less well known benefits of wine drinking
- Women Wine Drinkers Have Fewer Kidney Stones
- Moderate wine consumption cuts stroke risk
- Regular, Moderate Alcohol Consumption Protects Against Atherosclerosis
- Cohort Studies From Around the World Link Moderation to Longevity
- Drinking Wine May Lower Risk for Upper Digestive Tract Cancer
- Moderate Drinkers’ Benefits Begin in Early Adulthood
- Wine linked with lower lung cancer risk
- Moderate drinking lowers diabetes risk in men
- Moderate Drinking May Cut Women’s Risk of Diabetes
- Moderate Drinking May Cut Dementia Risk
- Red Wine May Keep Prostate Cancer Cells in Check
- Light Drinking May Help Keep Leg Arteries Clear
This is a very impressive list of benefits, you may notice that most of the claims have “May” or “Might” in them, indicating that they are not definitive. However, all the evidence out there seems to backup these claims. So how does Wine benefit you health?
What makes wine beneficial to your health
Molecules found in red wine, peanuts, and other products of the plant world have for the first time been shown to mimic the life-extending effects of calorie restriction. This could help researchers develop drugs that lengthen life and prevent or treat aging-related diseases. One of the molecules, resveratrol, was shown in a study to extend the life span of yeast cells by up to 80 percent. Resveratrol exists naturally in grapes and red wine.
The molecules that were shown to extend life in yeast belong to a family of compounds known as polyphenols. These include resveratrol, which is already thought to make red wine healthy in moderate amounts. Sinclair said the latest study may help explain why moderate consumption of red wine has been linked to lower incidence of heart disease and why resveratrol prevents cancer in mice.
Scientists have known for decades that putting organisms on a calorie-restricted diet dramatically reduces the incidence of age-related illnesses such as cancer, osteoporosis, and heart disease. In the 1990s, research showed that single genes can control how fast organisms age. Because of that, scientists have been racing to find ways of manipulating those genes.
In the UK, researchers have zeroed in on compounds in red wine that battle a protein linked to heart disease, finding that provides clues to why the French have relatively low rates of heart disease despite a national diet rich in creamy cheese and buttery desserts. The investigators found that polyphenols, compounds in grape skins and present in red wine, decrease the production of a protein that causes blood vessels to constrict and reduces the flow of oxygen to the heart.
Their findings support the results of earlier studies showing that a moderate intake of red wine may lower the risk of heart disease. But while these studies focused on the antioxidant properties of polyphenols–their ability to quench disease-causing free radicals in the body–the results of the new study suggest a new mechanism by which red wine might bring benefits.
White wine is made without the use of grape skins, while red wine is made by fermenting the juice from grapes along with the skins. Grape skin provides red wine with its color, and also contains the highest concentration of polyphenols. Other alcoholic beverages do not contain these compounds. “Consumption of one to two glasses of red wine per day with food might be considered part of a diet to reduce heart disease, provided there are no health grounds for avoiding alcohol, and that the person is not going to drive or operate equipment,” Corder said. The study findings are based on experiments with cow artery cells treated with alcohol-free extracts of various red, white and rose wines. The researchers also tried an extract of red grape juice, which inhibited endothelin production, but much less so than red wine did.
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