Health and Wine

I wasn’t always a wine lover, but after moving to Argentina three years ago my taste buds underwent a major change. I was mesmerized by all the delicious (and inexpensive) wine and wanted to scour Buenos Aires tasting it all. So since it’s safe to say that my weekly intake of wine has soared from what it was before, I started wondering about the health effects of all this wine drinking. I did a little research, and will share my findings with you here.

First of all, lets discuss calories. Have any of you thought maybe because there is no nutritional label on a bottle of wine telling you how many calories it has, that perhaps it doesn’t actually have any?? I know I have! Unfortunately it’s no drink for dieting. To put it into perspective a Coca-Cola has 111 grams per litre (g/L) of sugar and a late harvest dessert wine may have up to 150 g/L of sugar! Whites tend to have a little less alcohol than reds. But the variation is so small it doesn’t make much of a difference.

So there are calories, but like the photo- who cares! Then there is the obvious fact that drinking too much alcohol is just bad in general, especially if you want to take care of your liver. But what about those benefits of drinking wine that people always mention?

In an article I read on Food and Wine the American Heart Association claimed that consuming red wine has significant health benefits, when consumption is around one or two 4-ounce glasses a day. Some of the health benefits mentioned were:

Promotes Longevity: Wine drinkers have a 34% lower mortality rate than beer or spirits drinkers.

Reduces Heart-Attack Risk: Moderate drinkers suffering from high blood pressure are 30% less likely to have a heart attack than nondrinkers.

Lowers Risk of Heart Disease: Red-wine tannins contain procyanidins, which protect against heart disease.

Slows Brain Decline: A Columbia University study of 1,416 people, published in Neuroepidemiology, revealed that brain function declines at a markedly faster rate in nondrinkers than in moderate drinkers.

Another benefit of wine is it’s high level of antioxidants. A glass of full-bodied red wine has even more antioxidants than a glass of Acai Juice.

fullbodied

To be a full-bodied wine it must have had a longer maceration period as well as spent time in oak. Antioxidants are found in oak as well as in the tannins from the skins of the grapes. They are beneficial because they help eliminate the body of free radicals that cause damage to our cells!

So, next time you are too tired to go to the gym after work, drink a glass of wine instead!!