Red wine contains several substances that appear to improve heart health and decrease cholesterol. Interest in the healing properties of wine grew out of what is sometimes called the French paradox. People from France have a low incidence of heart disease despite a diet filled with butter, cheese and cream sauces. Researchers have long speculated that the high amount of wine the French consume might counteract their rich diet, and growing research has confirmed the health benefits of moderate consumption of red wine.
Increased HDL Cholesterol
One way red wine lowers your cholesterol is by increasing your cholesterol. More specifically, red wine lowers your "bad" LDL cholesterol by increasing your "good" HDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol binds with bad cholesterol and escorts it your liver, from where it is eliminated. So, engaging in what is traditionally considered a vice improves your health by increasing your cholesterol.
Good and Bad Cholesterol
One reason bad cholesterol is harmful is because oxidants called free radicals damage it. Free radicals, which typically are unstable oxygen molecules, roam through your bloodstream looking for an electron to steal. LDL cholesterol is fat and vulnerable --- it is literally made of fat --- and it often falls victim to free radicals' lust for electrons. Once damaged, the LDL cholesterol parks itself on your artery walls with other damaged LDL, turning to plaque and leaving you vulnerable to a heart attack.
HDL cholesterol is dedicated to rounding up delinquent LDL cholesterol and moving it out of your blood stream into your liver, helping to keep your blood flowing freely. However, good cholesterol is not necessarily resistant to damage by free radicals. While damaged HDL doesn't seem to congregate in your arteries like damaged LDL, it is unable to serve its transporter role when it is damaged by free radicals.
Antioxidants
Red wine contains substances that increase HDL cholesterol and decrease damage to LDL cholesterol. The skin and seeds of the grapes that are used to produce red wine contain antioxidant compounds called polyphenols. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, preventing them from corrupting LDL cholesterol. Red wine has several antioxidant phenols, including catechin, gallic acid and epicatechin. Red wine has more polyphenols than white wine because when white wine is made, the grape skins and seeds are removed after the grapes are crushed. The antioxidant properties of red wine also might reduce the risk of cancer, reports the National Cancer Institute.
Resveratrol
Grapes, raspberries, peanuts and other plants contain a type of polyphenol called resveratrol. This compound helps plants fight invaders like fungus, infection, ultraviolet irradiation and injury. In your glass of red wine, at least once you've ingested it, resveratrol joins the other antioxidants to fight free radicals. Resveratrol neutralizes free radicals and reduces damage to LDL cholesterol. It also appears to raise your good cholesterol, perhaps by minimizing loss of HDL to free radical damage. Whether resveratrol is the critical ingredient in red wine that helps the French down their Camembert and crème brulee with arterial impunity has not yet been demonstrated by research, according to MayoClinic.com.
Sapopins
Sapopins are a substance in red wine that acts like good cholesterol. Sapopins are glucose-based compounds that bind with cholesterol and help prevent its reabsorption into the bloodstream while it's in the liver. Red wine contains three to 10 times the amount of sapopins of white wine, reports Science Daily.
Alcohol
Some research suggests that something in alcohol might increase good cholesterol beyond the polyphenols contained in the fruit of the wine, according to Daily Mail. Adding alcohol to fruit drinks increases the levels of antioxidants, reports Join Together.
Limitations
Most doctors do not advise people to drink as a way to reduce cholesterol. If you do drink, drink in moderation. MayoClinic.com recommends one drink a day for women and two for men as the most you should drink to obtain medical benefits from red wine.
