Wine is delicious, relaxing and can even provide health benefits if you consume it in just the right amount.
Drinking wine, or any type of alcohol, can have both positive and negative effects on your body. It depends on the amount you drink, your age, genetics, diet, your health conditions, among other factors.
Benefits of moderate wine consumption
- Raise “good” HDL cholesterol levels
- Decrease the risk of diabetes
- Reduce blood pressure. Resveratrol in red wine can lower blood pressure and increase HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
- Protect from brain damage. Resveratrol can also help protect against secondary brain damage after a stroke or central nervous system injury.
- Depression. A study showed that those who drank 2 to 7 glasses of wine each week had lower levels of depression.
- Intestinal health. Red wine compounds can also act as prebiotics, which are compounds that stimulate healthy gut bacteria.
The Harvard School of Public Health explains that Benefits for the health of wine are often attributed to its content of polyphenols even in alcohol-free wine. These substances could relax the walls of the blood vessels and prevent the formation of cholesterol plaques.
Red wine contains resveratrol, quercetin and epicatechins.
Is red wine better?
Red wine tends to receive more attention than white wine because it contains approximately 10 times the amount of polyphenols.
However, there may be other active compounds in the White wine they offer a cardioprotective effect.
Wine, beer or spirits
The American Heart Association also notes that regardless of polyphenols, alcohol, whether it be wine, beer, or spirits, could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and the diabetes risk as research indicates.
How much wine is beneficial a day
A moderate consumption, according to federal guidelines, no more than one or two alcoholic drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women. The references are:
5 fluid ounces of wine (12% alcohol).
12 fluid ounces of regular beer (5% alcohol)
1.5 fluid ounces of 80 proof distilled spirits (40% alcohol).
Why shouldn’t you drink more?
Excessive alcohol consumption can have the opposite effects of moderate consumption and lead to a number of health problems, including:
- Hepatic injury
- Some types of cancer
- High blood pressure
- Promote arrhythmias
- Heart failure
- Alter your defenses
About heart failure. Excessive alcohol consumption can cause cardiomyopathy where alcohol is actually toxic to heart muscle cells and that can lead to heart failure, the AHA notes.
Alcohol and cancer
The National Cancer Institute points out that even in moderate consumption over time it can increase the risk of different types of cancer:
Head and neck cancers. Moderate to excessive consumption.
Breast cancer From moderate consumption.
Esophagus cancer. From moderate consumption.
Liver cancer. Excessive consumption.
Colorectal cancer. Moderate to excessive consumption
This is in part because it creates toxins in the body, damages body tissues, and creates oxidation.
The adverse effects of alcohol can outweigh any benefit of wine resveratrol (antioxidant).
How much is high risk drinking?
Women. 4 or more drinks on any day or 8 or more drinks per week.
Mens. 5 or more drinks on any day or 15 or more drinks per week.
Polyphenols in wine in other foods
For example, increasing the intake of one or two daily servings of tea, coffee, berries, onions, or apples provides a much higher amount of polyphenols than having an extra glass of red wine.