8 Benefits of Wine Drinking

Sure, wine tastes amazing—but that's not the only perk. Anyone who loves sitting back in their favorite chair, listening to classical music and drinking a glass of Pinot after an exhausting day isn't just sipping their way to total relaxation.

People have been drinking wine for thousands of years, and the benefits of doing so have been well documented. From reducing the risk of heart disease to improving your eyesight and promoting healthy aging, a little wine at the end of the day can go a long way.

The next time you uncork a bottle and the luscious wine flows in mellow drops into your shiny glass, keep these 8 impressive, science-backed red wine benefits in mind.

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The main benefits of drinking a daily glass of red wine are

1. Makes Your Heart and Blood Vessels Healthier

Red grape skins and seeds are a great source of resveratrol, a type of antioxidant that has a very protective effect on our body. It can also be found in some other fruits, like berries. According to science, resveratrol can improve our cardiovascular health and decrease the risk of heart disease.

Of course, this is only true if our wine consumption is moderate. This means no more than two glasses a day for men and one glass a day for women. Otherwise, the potential benefits would be eliminated.

Blood pressure and blood vessels can also be positively affected by red wine. No wonder – people do feel more relaxed after one glass of pinot noir no matter how stressful their day was, so their blood pressure drops.

A study published by British scientists in 2006 showed that substances found in red wine, known as procyanidins, help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Want a big, strong heart? Red is your best friend!

Another fact, not so surprising, is that a positive correlation was found between longer life expectancy and regions that are actually famous for their vineyards and wine production! It appears that their traditional ways of winemaking help maintain a high level of procyanidins.

2. Wine Promotes Longevity

If resveratrol from wine can make our heart healthier, our eyesight better, our waistline slimmer… It doesn’t come as a surprise that it may be the key to longevity. Taking a sip from your favorite wine glass is like taking a sip from the fountain of youth!

All is once again due to antioxidants. They help our body fight against free radicals. Free radicals appear in our body as waste products of many chemical reactions that go on in our organism, and they speed up the aging process.

Antioxidants have the ability to soak up the free radicals and prevent them from doing further harm to our cells, decreasing the risk of many age-related diseases.

In other words, the secret of longevity is hiding in a glass of red heavenly elixir, known as wine!

3. Helps Prevent Cancer

The power of wine doesn’t stop with helping our heartbeat stronger. Studies have shown that resveratrol found in red wine is truly out of this world. This substance can, among all the other incredible things, decrease the risk of getting some types of cancer!

There’s no other alcoholic drink with such health benefits. Women who drink 0.2l of wine a day, as well as men who take 0.3l of the same drink, are less likely to suffer from a malignant tumor.

4. Improves Your Mental Health

Moderate intake of wine can be beneficial for our mental health in several ways. Not only an occasional glass of wine helps us relax and clear our mind after a stressful day at work, but it can do much more.

Some studies conducted in 2019 have shown that resveratrol can have an antidepressant effect. There’s a question if this very substance is the future cure of some mental disorders, as the authors of the recent studies are focused on figuring out if resveratrol can undo the damage everyday stress does to our brain.

Another study showed one more beneficial effect resveratrol can have on our brain – it can help fight dementia and Alzheimer’s. The journal Scientific Reports published a study in 2018 that implies that low doses of wine can help the brain get rid of harmful toxins, among which are the ones linked to Alzheimer’s disease. So, if you pour yourself a glass of this sweet liquid, you won’t forget where you put it!

Now that we’ve mentioned the brain, there’s another interesting study that showed that resveratrol can reduce brain damage after a stroke and even lower the chances of having it. This happens thanks to a higher level of an enzyme that can protect brain cells during a stroke, and this level is affected by the almighty resveratrol.

5. Protects Your Eyesight

Moderate intake of wine can actually protect our eyesight and help us keep our 20/20 vision for as long as possible. So, a glass of wine a day will keep the glasses away.

Researchers from the US found that resveratrol can have positive effects on our vision as well. How does it actually protect our eyes? As we get older, the blood vessels in our eyes become prone to damage and resveratrol slows down this damage as well as deterioration of eye muscles.

Resveratrol also helps prevent a condition that’s becoming more and more common in adults who are 50+ years old and that can even lead to blindness. The condition is known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and it particularly affects the macula, which plays a role in keeping our vision sharp.

It can also help against retinopathy, which is commonly diagnosed in people who have type 1 or type 2-diabetes.

6. Cares for Your Teeth

This is definitely one of the most unexpected benefits of drinking wine. As you know, alcoholic drinks contain sugar, and sugar is bad for our teeth. Also, red wine can sometimes leave stains, which doesn’t look good on beautiful white teeth. However, the situation might be different for wine lovers.

A recent study has shown that our teeth can also benefit from a couple of glasses of wine. According to this study, some chemicals contained in red wine can prevent tooth decay and keep our gums healthy.

How does red wine work in this case? Again, polyphenols have a key role. Being antioxidants, they don’t allow bacteria to stick to your teeth. By drinking red wine, we avoid the risk of getting a cavity or gum disease in great measure.

And as for the stains, you may still be afraid of, swishing around with a bit of water after each glass of wine will do the trick! You’ll get to keep a big, bright smile and still enjoy the taste of the drink of the gods.

7. Helps You Lose Weight

We are normally advised to avoid alcoholic drinks if we’re on a diet plan. Alcohol contains sugar, which isn’t a good ally if we’re trying to lose weight, and some drinks are also known to boost our appetite.

However, things are different with wine, especially red. A standard glass of this angelic drink has only 110 calories. You must agree that it isn’t much if you bear in mind all the good things this beverage brings.

Before anything, drinking red wine can improve blood flow, which helps our body obtain the necessary amounts of oxygen faster. Oxygen is, of course, a crucial component for fat burning.

Several studies have been done on a large number of women in the US and showed the benefits wine has on weight loss. Resveratrol can turn white fat into brown fat and help us lose weight.

What does this mean? The white fat cells are responsible for storing energy. As we gradually gain weight, they start expanding and becoming larger. Resveratrol helps these turn into brown fat cells, which are easier to burn. Does this story sound amazing to you? No wonder that ancient Egyptians considered the wine maturing process pure alchemy.

Red wine can also help prevent obesity. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can eat junk food and not do any sports and expect to be slim, but other studies have shown that drinking a couple of glasses of red wine in the evening can slow down the weight gaining process.

8. Helps You Fight Off the Common Cold

According to science, wine can prevent us from catching a cold, thanks to antioxidants, which, among other functions, also helps fight nasal viruses. And isn’t a trivial cold one of the most irritating things in the world?

Resveratrol is particularly important – now it seems to be a magical substance that, luckily for the wine lovers, can be found in this divine drink. How does resveratrol help fight off the common cold? It can dampen an inflammatory process in our body so we are less likely to feel any symptoms.

This is why regular consumption of wine can make us infection-resistant, especially during the winter. Cold weather brings viral infections that become very common until spring, and are easily spread as we spend too much time in closed, often crowded space. A study conducted by Spanish researchers showed that people who occasionally drink a glass or two are less likely to catch a cold, even in these conditions.

Both red and white wine can serve this purpose, which can’t be said about any other alcoholic drink – wine is the only one that can save us from sneezing and coughing. If you don’t trust us, trust Hippocrates, the father of medicine who used red wine as a remedy for some of his patients!

A Glass of Wine Will Make You Shine

Your heart, your teeth, your eyes, your waistline, your mental health. All of them can benefit from drinking a moderate amount of red wine on a weekly basis.

Haven’t you always wanted a fun way to take care of your health? Well, scientists made sure you now know that wine can make your whole body shine. You have plenty of reasons to enjoy a glass of this sweet liquid every evening when you finally come home to relax after a long day.

Nothing can complete this perfect image like the tempting taste of the celestial drink you’re holding in your hand. And when you know you’re doing something good for your health, it feels even better. After all, the drink of the gods couldn’t possibly be anything but a remedy for all your aches.

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