Is Red Wine Good for You?
In the noughties, the word was that red wine was very good for heart health and for its antioxidant properties. Whilst that is true to some extent, it’s not as good as we once believed.
Resveratrol is a powerful antioxidant found in the skin of red grapes. It has been shown to greatly extend the life of lab-tested organisms (more likely to add life to years in humans), helps fight against Covid-19, reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, reduces DNA methylation rates (cellular ageing) and reduce blood pressure to name a few effects. But you’d have to drink a vast amount, I’m talking hundreds of bottles of red wine to get a recommended dose of resveratrol and as you can imagine, the negative effects of drinking that much would far outweigh the benefits. And we’re all too aware, that too much alcohol is not good for our physical and mental health and the government now recommends we drink less than 10 small glasses a week. That’s certainly not enough to see any real benefit from resveratrol.
However, about 125ml a day (a small glass) has been shown in some studies to have more health benefits than other alcoholic drinks and can increase good cholesterol, reduce oxidative damage and reduce the risk of some cancers. There is a fine balance however so staying within a glass a day might be wise to see the good benefits and not the bad ones.
There is good reason to choose organic if you can afford to when buying food and drink and the same goes for wine. Organic grapes have not been sprayed with pesticides and fertilizers which can be found in a regular bottle of wine. Regular wine can also contain nasty additives including added sugar and sulphuric acids. The hangovers tend to be less severe in organic wine due to there being fewer sulphites (but you’re not going to be drinking to excess, right?).
Based on years of research in the health and fitness industry I strongly believe that happiness and laughter have huge benefits to our health. Not just to our mood but also have positive consequences on our physical health via reduced stress hormones and increased feel-good hormones which affect how the body functions and processes nutrients; eating a sandwich standing up, rushed and stressed compared to sitting down eating slowly whilst in good company would change how the body processes the food for better or worse. In blue zones (areas in the world where people live the longest) they do drink alcohol in moderation but do so in relaxed, enjoyable, social occasions with meals. So how we drink red wine is as important as how much.
My recommendation, as a health and fitness expert, would be to enjoy a social glass of organic red wine now and then knowing that in moderation when combined with a relaxed, positive environment red wine is probably doing you no harm and some good.
Matt Jordan – the Energy Coach