Health Benefits of White and Red Wines

Both white and red wines are good for your health. Although they’re made with grapes, they don’t provide the same health benefits as fruits. After they go through fermentation, the grapes lose some of their original nutrition, but they also gain new health benefits. Wines don’t only improve physical health; they can also help you overcome stress. If you are suffering from a serious disease, the calming effect of wines may give you the mental focus to help you overcome the illness. Even though wines are beneficial to your health, they should not be consumed excessively.

White Wine Health Benefits

• White wine has the ability to protect the heart against aging, which can provide preventive benefits to the heart, though not all whites have the power to do so. According to research from the University Of Connecticut School Of Medicine, only one of three white wines tested provided a significant boost of protection to the heart, while the other two tested did not improve ventricular recovery, which reflects anti-aging properties.
• Studies have found that its antioxidant content is effective for preventing lung disease and breast cancer. In 2002, researchers at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine found that moderate lifelong white wine consumption improves lung health.
• Drinking white wine can help you avoid the headache, nausea and irritability of hangovers caused by chemical byproducts of alcohol fermentation called Congeners. This is because the chemical’s concentration is higher in dark alcoholic beverages.
• White wine could be beneficial towards achieving weight loss, according to a 2004 study from the University of Hohenheim (Germany). The study found that patients interested in losing weight and on a calorie-restricted diet may benefit from drinking white wine. A diet with 10 percent of energy derived from white wine was found to be as effective in assisting weight loss as a diet with 10 percent of energy derived from juices–plus the additional benefits from consuming wine.
• White wine has two strong antioxidants, tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, also found in olive oil, that aren’t present in red wine. These antioxidants combined with the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in olive oil, are good for the heart.

Red Wine Health Benefits

• Since they contain the skins of grapes, red wines have a powerful type of antioxidants called resveratrol’s. Resveratrol also helps to remove chemicals responsible for causing blood clots, which is the primary cause of coronary disease. A daily dose of red wine cuts blood clot-related stroke rates by 50 percent.
• Resveratrol protects against cell damage and prevents age-related mental decline such as Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine found that resveratrol may help prevent age-related memory decline. They published the findings from their study of rats in “Scientific Reports” in January 2015.
• A 2014 study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that red wine may kill dangerous bacteria in your mouth that could cause dental diseases, including cavities. Red wines also contain polyphenols, which are excellent antioxidants that can perform a wide variety of tasks, including reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improving the immune system, combating against harmful bacteria and preventing cancer.
• There is also a significant amount of flavonoids in red wines, and these antioxidants are known to be able to lower risks of cancer. Researchers aren’t exactly sure how, but the active antioxidant in red wine known as quercetin works against cancer cells, according to the American Cancer Society. It helps to induce natural cell death in certain types of cancers, most often colon cancer.