“A Glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away” is a well-known saying throughout the adult community, and I have always been skeptical of it. It seems odd that drinking alcohol, which is full of calories, everyday could have any positive benefits on our health, so I decided to look into it.
The French Diet
The common, or even stereotypical diet of French people consists of bread, cheese, and wine. While this diet is relatively high in fat, French people tend to be at lower risk for heart disease; and many people attribute this to red wine. According to a Professor at Tufts University, Dr. Alice Lichtenstein, there are so many differences in lifestyle between Americans and French people that this lower risk of heart disease should not be taken too seriously. A Harvard researcher, Dr. Eric Rimm mentions the common misconception that red wine is loaded with antioxidants. He comments that while there are some, they are not always metabolized in the way they should be, and that we are better off eating vegetables than having a glass of red wine, if anti oxidants are what we are concerned about.
Wine and Diabetes
A two year long study was conducting on people with diabetes, and how wine intake affected their condition. A researcher from Israel collected 225 people with high blood sugar, and had them agree to follow a Mediterranean style diet for two years. He wanted to explore the myth that alcohol is especially bad for people who have high blood sugar. He split the 225 people into three groups: one drank red wine everyday, one drank white wine everyday, and one drank mineral water everyday. This was easily controlled because they were all following the same diet, and only altering what they drank. The results of this study showed that a glass of red wine with dinner can improve the cardiovascular health of people with type 2 diabetes. Christopher Wilcox of Georgetown University commented on this study saying that the results are not large health improvements, but potentially significant.
Having a glass of wine a day will not “keep the doctor away”, but it can help your health, just a little bit. The most important thing is to have a healthy diet, with your glass of wine a day, and are good to go!
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/wine-how-much-is-good-for-you
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/10/14/448311831/diabetes-study-adds-evidence-that-a-glass-of-wine-is-good-for-you
http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20793870,00.html
http://annals.org/article.aspx?articleID=2456121
https://s3.amazonaws.com/lowres.cartoonstock.com/food-drink-wine-glass-waiter-red_wine-alcoholic-bfrn231_low.jpg
https://www.colourbox.com/preview/2872154-red-wine-pouring-into-wine-glass-isolated.jpg
It seems as though no one can really agree upon how much wine is a good amount before one is being healthy. A Forbes’ Magazine article highlighted how differently many American associations of health view the proper amount of wine intake. The Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the American Heart Association all agree that one glass of wine per day for a woman, and two glasses for men is the proper amount. However, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism ups the ante quite a significant amount- placing women at 3 glasses of wine per day (but no more than 7 a week) or 4 glasses a day for men (but no more than 14 a week). These numbers are the same as all of the other organizations, however the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism seems to think that it doesn’t matter how much you have had at one time, but more how much you have had in a weekly basis (when it comes to heart health, anyway).