Login or Register

What Do They Say About a Glass of Wine a Day for the Body?

Jul 13, 2011 | By Jean Cassel
What Do They Say About a Glass of Wine a Day for the Body?
Photo Credit John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images

Drinking a glass or two of wine per day can offer multiple health benefits, and it's a good thing it does -- the average person in the United States drinks 2.54 gallons of wine per year, according to the Wine Institute. If you choose to indulge, do so in moderation, which is two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. One drink is defined as 5 oz. of wine.

Improved Memory

The Tromso Study, done in Norway, examined the relationship between moderate consumption of alcohol and cognitive function. The study of more than 5,000 people tested cognitive skills, such as verbal memory, digit-symbol coding and tapping tests, at the beginning of the study and after seven years. The study, published in "Acta Neurologica Scandinavica Supplementum" in 2010, found that moderate wine consumption improved cognitive skills in both men and women. There was no correlation with consumption of beer and spirits. Abstaining from alcohol resulted in lower cognitive performance in women, but not in men.

Reduced Cancer Risk

Nearly 700 Australian women with confirmed ovarian cancer and 800 women without cancer were studied in 2004 for a link between alcohol consumption and ovarian cancer. The results of the study, published in "Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention" in April 2004, found that the adjusted odds rate for women who drank two or fewer drinks a day was 0.49, which equals a 50 percent reduced rate of developing ovarian cancer. The study looked at multiple types of alcohol and found that wine drinkers had the lowest risk of cancer when compared to nondrinkers or those who drank only beer or liquor. Red wine was noted to be particularly effective, with women who drank one glass per day being almost seven times less likely to develop ovarian cancer than those who didn't drink alcohol at all.

Heart Health

One of the most frequently touted benefits of moderate wine consumption is its effect on heart health. A component in the skins of grapes, resveratrol, has been shown to reduce risk of inflammation and blood clotting, both of which are factors in heart disease, according to MayoClinic.com. Additionally, antioxidants in the grapes, known as flavonoids, also reduce the risk of heart disease by decreasing production of LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL cholesterol.

Type of Wine

Red wine is often considered to have more health benefits than white wine because it contains more resveratrol. The skin of the grape is kept on longer when manufacturing red wine, so it has a high concentration of the component. However, wines made in cooler climates have higher amounts of resveratrol, too, making your best bet a red wine produced in a cool climate.

References

Article reviewed by J.A. Rist Last updated on: Jul 13, 2011

Must see: Photo Galleries

Member Comments