Wine Consumption: The Pros and the Cons

Drinking Wine

Should you or shouldn’t you?

The Plusses to Drinking Wine:

• 1-2 glasses of wine per day appear to reduce stress and the effects of chronic inflammation.
• Red wine contains polyphenols and this can be helpful to combat arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)
• When you drink wine with a meal it makes the meal seem like a special occasion and thus you may eat more slowly (which enhances digestion)
• It is a better choice than sugary mixed drinks because these mixed drinks contain more sugar and thus spikes insulin.
• Wine drinkers tend to sip rather than guzzle their beverage which means fewer intakes of alcohol, sugar and calories.
• A moderate amount which is equivalent to 5 oz. per day has been shown to lower your risk of heart disease.
• Moderate amounts of red wine (1-3 glasses per day, 3-4 times per week) may reduce your risk of dementia, depression, and some cancers.
• Good News for you white wine drinkers!  White wine has been shown to have many of the same positive health benefits as red wine.

Downside to Drinking Wine

• If you drink alcohol in excessive amounts it can increase your risk for breast cancer, cause brain damage and damage to the liver and other organs
• Red wine does contain the antioxidant resveratrol that is found in the skin of grapes.  Resveratrol is good for fighting inflammation, heart disease, blood clotting, and cancer.  However the amount of resveratrol in wine is very low and to get the benefits of this powerful antioxidant, you would need to consume several bottles-not a good idea!  Add purple and black grapes to your diet and supplement with resveratrol for heart disease instead.
• Those who consume more than 5 oz. of red wine per day have a greater risk of heart disease.  Other studies show that 1-2 glasses of red wine per day can also lower your risk of stroke but more than this amount can increase your risk.
• When you start to go beyond moderate amounts of wine, the negative effects outweigh the benefits-for those who drink 2-3 glasses of red wine every day they have increased risk of liver disease, depression, weight gain and diabetes.
• Wines are still mostly empty calories that you may consume instead of healthy food choices so be cognizant if wine is replacing food in your diet.
• A glass of red wine (5 oz.) contains on average 125 calories.  So if you are consuming say 2 glasses 4 times per week that is 1,000 added calories per week.  It can easily cause the weight to creep on.

Sources: http://blogs.naturalnews.com/wine-consumption-pros-cons/