We’ve heard a lot of buzz recently about the health benefits of drinking wine. This notion definitely goes down well on a Friday night as an excuse to down another glass but is it actually true?
There are multiple health benefits to choosing wine over, say, hard liquor or beer as your alcoholic drink of choice. There is expert information on various types of wine on the M&S blog written by industry expert Chris Murphy which can help you to choose something suitable.
Of course, all this health benefit talk can go flying out the window if you aren’t consuming in moderation. It’s just like how dark chocolate should be eaten over any other kind for all the health reasons. But that doesn’t mean you can sit around and gobble down bits of dark chocolate like you’ve discovered the secret to a healthy life.
Physical Health Benefits
When it comes to the physical advantages of consuming wine, there are a fair amount that have been proven true by various studies over the past decade or so. And all of these benefits can only be increased by maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle as opposed to a sedentary one, which you can learn more about here. Now, on with the health benefits of wine (especially of the red variety):
- Lower Risk of Stroke and Damage: Not only will you be less likely to suffer from a stroke, but if that should happen, a John Hopkins Medicine study finds that your brain could be shielded from damage during a stroke if you drink red wine.
- You Might Live Longer: According to a study in the Journals of Gerontology, moderate wine consumption was related to a lower mortality rate and a higher quality of life in old age.
- Heart Attack and Disease Risks Are Reduced: Researchers at Harvard found that men with high blood pressure, in the case of this study, had a lowered risk of a heart attack if they were moderate alcohol drinkers. And in terms of heart disease, another study found that red wine’s tannins contain procyanidins that can help protect against this.
- The Risk of Colon Cancer Is Reduced: The American Journal of Gastroenterology found that colon cancer risk was reduced by 45 percent for individuals who consumed (mostly) red wine instead of other alcoholic beverages.
Mental Health Benefits
In addition to showcasing how wine can be an asset for your physical health, we also found a more recent study that shows how your mental health can also benefit.. According to the Guardian, a new study “found that those who drank two to seven glasses of wine a week were less prone to depression than non-drinkers.” The researched followed the eating and drinking habits of 5,500 light to moderate drinkers of both genders during a seven-year period. The results were the same for both men and women.
The lead researcher, Miguel Ángel Martínez-González of the University of Navarra, indicated that there was “an inverse association between low to moderate alcohol consumption and new cases of depression.” However, that doesn’t mean you should start drinking if you’re depressed or think this will help you down the line. He advised to not drink if you haven’t yet and that if you do drink already, stay within a range of one or less drinks per day. Also, he said you should consider wine as opposed to other alcoholic beverages.
