Is Drinking Red Wine Healthy?

According to Mayo Clinic researchers, “those who drink moderate amounts of alcohol including red wine seem to have a lower risk of heart disease.” Why is this? Resveratrol is a polyphenol, which is an antioxidant found in grape skins, blueberries, chocolate and peanuts. These polyphenols found in red wine may help protect the linking of the hearts’ blood vessels. Helping lower LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol and preventing blood clots is another important characteristic that resveratrol may contribute.

Not too fast. This does not mean we should all start drinking more red wine. Researchers still need to investigate how much resveratrol actually contributes to these health benefits (that is why the words “may” have been used). Some previous animal studies have shown that in order to have the dosage of resveratrol that will actually have some benefit, we would have to drink 1,000 liters of red wine! Now, this would not be a part of a healthy diet, and too much liquid for our body to handle.

Although there is not solid information about the beneficial amount of resveratrol in a glass of red wine, we can still consume resveratrol through our diet with grapes and blueberries, without even including alcohol.