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 Yes, wine can actually be healthy for you. Our ancestors knew of its health benefits, when drunk in moderation. In fact, up until the 18th century, wine played a central role in medicine. Because of its alcohol and acid content, wine inhibits the growth of all micro-organisms that are the cause of disease in man. In the modern world, wine is accepted as a healthful drink. Only in the United States are we beginning to rediscover its value to society. For many years, we focused on the dangers of drinking too much. But in moderation, wine can be a healthy beverage. Here are some interesting facts about wine and its health benefits:
Wine could preserve your memory. When researchers gave memory quizzes to women in their 70s, those who drank one drink or more every day scored much better than those who drank less or not at all. Wine helps prevent clots and reduce blood vessel inflammation, both of which have been linked to cognitive decline, as well as heart disease. Alcohol also seems to raise HDL, the good cholesterol, which helps unclog your arteries.
Studies find that people who drink wine daily have lower body mass than those who indulge occasionally. In fact, moderate wine drinkers have narrower waists and less abdominal fat than people who drink liquor. Alcohol may encourage your body to burn extra calories for as long as 90 minutes after you down a glass. Beer seems to have a similar effect.
In one British study, those who drank roughly a glass of wine a day reduced by 11 percent their risk of infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, a major cause of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancers. As little as half a glass may also guard against food poisoning caused by germs like salmonella when people are exposed to contaminated food, according to a Spanish study.
When Australian researchers recently compared women with ovarian cancer and cancer-free women, they found that roughly one glass of wine a day seemed to reduce the risk of the disease by as much as 50 percent. Earlier research at the University of Hawaii produced similar findings. Experts suspect this may be due to antioxidants or phytoestrogens, which have high anticancer properties, in the wine. And in a recent University of Michigan study, a red wine compound helped kill ovarian cancer cells in a test tube.
Women who drink moderately seem to have higher bone mass than abstainers. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; the hormone seems to slow the body's destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone.
Premenopausal women who drink one or two glasses of wine a day are 40 percent less likely than women who don't drink to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a 10-year study by Harvard Medical School. While the reasons aren't clear, wine seems to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients.
So the next time you uncork a bottle of wine, make a toast to your health. |
