Certainly, you’ve heard that drinking a glass of wine with your meal is good for your health, but do you know why? Allow us to explain…
Several studies show that the is a correlation between moderate red wine consumption and better heart health. However, this connection isn’t fully understood, since health workers still can’t pinpoint exactly what’s good for your health, if it’s the antioxidants in the wine, alcohol itself or a mixture of both. Studies show that moderate amount of all types of alcohol, such as beer, white wine or spirits, is beneficial for your heart, since it:
– Increases the levels of HDL cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol); – Reduces the formation of blood clots; – Helps preventing damage to the arteries by LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol); – May increase the function of the cells that line blood vessels.
When consumed in moderation, red wine helps prevent coronary diseases, since it contains polyphenols, organic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that help regulate the metabolism, weight control and even prevent chronic diseases and cancer.
One of the polyphenols that received the most attention because of its health benefits is resveratrol, a phytonutrient with high antioxidant, anticancer, antiviral, protector, anti-inflammatory, neuro protective and even antiaging properties. Its main health benefits include:
– Improves skin appearance and prevents early aging; – Helps purifying and detoxing the organism, facilitating weight loss; – Prevents cardiovascular diseases, since it improves blood flow, because it relaxes blood vessels muscles; – Helps reducing LDL cholesterol; – Improves wound healing; – Helps avoiding neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer, Huntington disease and Parkinson; – Helps combating inflammation; – Helps cancer prevention, since it can supress the spreading of some tumoral cells.
Consuming resveratrol source foods isn’t enough to grant its benefits. It’s fundamental that you have healthy and balanced eating habits, and do regular physical exercise.
Some foods that are rich in resveratrol are red wine, red grapes, grape juice, cocoa, dark chocolate, pistachios, peanuts, cranberry and blueberry.
There are also resveratrol supplements, but its extremely important to talk to your doctor ou nutritionist first, since exaggerated consumption of resveratrol may cause gastrointestinal disorders, like diarrhoea, nausea or vomits, and it should not be consumed by pregnant women or children.
Still, healthcare workers don’t recommend that you start drinking alcohol just because of these benefits, since it can be addictive and cause or increase other types of diseases, such as:
– Accidents, violence or suicide; – Certain types of cancer; – Hearth failure; – Hypertension; – Liver and pancreas diseases; – Stroke; – Increase in weight and obesity.
Completely avoid alcohol if you:
– Are pregnant; – Have cases, yours or in your family, of alcohol abuse; – Have a liver or pancreas disease associated with alcohol consumption; – Have heart failure or weak heart; – Take certain types of medication.
Anyway, you should always consult your doctor.
If you already drink alcohol, do so in moderation. For healthy adults this means:
– Up to 1 drink a day for women all ages; – Up to 1 drink a day for men over 65 years old; – Up to 2 drinks a day for men under 65 years old.
The limit for men is higher since they generally weight more than the women, and have a higher amount of the enzyme that metabolizes alcohol.
1 drink is classified as:
– 350ml of beer; – 140ml of wine; – 40ml of spirits.