Red Wine: How Much is Good and Bad For You?

Red wine is one of the most popularly consumed drinks since ancient times and is known for centuries mostly because of its rich taste and classy texture. Besides these, red wine boasts of the contents of alcohol and essential antioxidants like polyphenols, flavonoids, and resveratrol are significantly known to enhance your heart health and lower down the risks of several chronic disorders, diabetes, asthma or respiratory diseases, sulfites, and other inflammatory diseases.

There are some debates related to the health benefits of red wine; some experts claim it to be safe while others do not. But experiments and studies show that, when consumed in moderation, red wine can provide extensive health benefits.

All About Red Wine

Red wine is mostly known as a health beneficial drink that is manufactured through a prolonged process of squeezing out dark grapes and preserving them through a process called fermentation and contains 12 to 15% of added alcohol. The tastes of the wine vary according to color and age. The most popularly consumed red wine types are Shiraz, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, and Zinfandel.

Nutrient Contents in Red Wine:

Approximately one glass or five ounces of premium quality red wine contains the following components on average:

• Calories: 125
• Calcium
• Carbohydrates: 4 grams
• Protein: 0 grams
• Fat: 0 grams
• Fiber: 0 grams
• Sugar: 1 gram
• Iron

The Health Benefits of Having Red Wine:

Grapes and their extracts are known to provide essential health benefits. Red wine is rich in the nutrients from fermented whole, ripe grapes. Some of those health benefits are listed below:

1. Fights Inflammatory Diseases

Any kind of chronic inflammatory disease is a matter of concern because it can lead to further deterioration of your health leading to poor health causing heart diseases. It also weakens your immune system and can even cause several types of cancers. The health extracts present in red wine contain essential components that are known to fight inflammatory diseases. Moreover, the health components in red wine can reduce stress, tension, and anxiety and thus help to reduce inflammatory diseases. It has been found that red wine consists of vital compound resveratrol and essential antioxidants that are known to have anti-inflammatory properties and may benefit health (1 Trusted Source).

But doctors always suggest moderating red wine moderately to gain anti-inflammatory benefits. A recent study carried out in the US shows that when the participants were made to consume 1.4 ounces or 40 grams of red wine per day, their bodies showed to lower down the chances of developing inflammatory diseases on a significant note than those who did not drink. Another experiment carried over around 2,900 women showed that consumption of 1.4 ounces or one glass of red wine daily has contributed the anti- inflammatory components to their bodies than those women who did not drink red wine.

2. Reduces High Blood Pressure

Red wine consists of essential dietary antioxidants like polyphenols, flavonoids, and resveratrol that are significantly known to lower down the high blood pressure levels and keep the steady movement of blood through the blood vessels. Some of the new studies conclude that people with heart problems and with high blood pressure should positively consume red wine because it has been found that red wine consists of extracts that can reduce high systolic and diastolic readings notably.

3. Cares For Your Heart

Red wine contains health extracts that are known to maintain the healthy functioning of your heart and keep your heart disorder free. Ethanol, an essential organic compound present in red wine is known to have quite a good number of benefits that keep your heart healthy. It mixes with the antioxidants like polyphenols in red wine and improves the overall functioning of the circulatory system.

Experts advise that people with high blood pressure or with any kind of heart disease should have red wine in moderation or occasionally because the health extracts in red wine will help to dilate the constricted blood vessels and will help in easy blood flow, thus leading to an improved circulatory tract.

4. Controls Blood Sugar Levels and Diabetes

Experts say that if you drink red wine moderately, then your body becomes efficient enough to control the blood sugar level at an optimum level. Moreover, the health extracts in red wine can also help to check the risk of blood sugar spikes in women and thus can effectively check blood sugar disorders like type 2 diabetes.

5. Fights Cancer

If you drink red wine moderately, it will be easier for your body to build up a strong immunity that can prevent abnormal cell growth and thus prevent occurrences of several types of cancers, like colon, basal cell, ovary, breast, and prostate cancers (2 Trusted Source).

6. Improves Mood

Sometimes moderate doses of red wine can be a good option to improve your mood after a tiresome day. An occasional glass of wine can help you to lower down the feelings of wretchedness and depression (3 Trusted Source).

7. Lowers The Chances of Dementia

Some medical advisors say that light to moderate consumption of red wine is beneficial for reducing the risk of chronic disorders like dementia and improves the circulatory system of your body, compared to much other wine or alcohol-based drinks.

Potential Health Risks of Having Red Wine

Red wine comes with several essential health benefits but if the consumption becomes unlimited, then it can lead to severe health conditions such as:

1. Allergies from red wine: Around 10% of the total population can suffer from red wine allergies and further consumption can lead to lethal health conditions because red wine contains several components of wine that can spike up allergic reactions like yeast, mold, and sulfites. Even some compounds of antioxidants like the flavonoids present in red wine can be allergic to certain people and can also cause chronic symptoms like asthma.
2. Overconsumption of alcohol: Drinking red wine every day or consuming it heavily, above the standard limits can make a person become alcoholic and may lead to over alcoholism (4 Trusted Source).
3. Weight gain: There are high chances of gaining weight from overconsumption of red wines because these alcoholic drinks contain excessive amounts of added sugars and rich calories that can cause calorie surplus in your body and lead to weight gain and obesity. (5 Trusted Source)
4. Damages in Liver: Overconsumption of red wine, around 30 grams of alcohol that is about 2–3 glasses of wine each day, can severely damage the normal functioning of your liver and can lead to fatal conditions like liver cirrhosis and other related liver diseases that can even be life-threatening (7 Trusted Source).
5. Chances of depression: Heavy consumption of red wine each day can cause severe mood swings and can often lead to developing clinical depression. (8 Trusted Source)
6. Increased risk of death and chronic diseases: Drinking red wine in high volumes every day can lead to premature death and can also cause your body to develop certain chronic disorders that are potential enough to worsen your health conditions (9 Trusted Source).
7. Pregnant women and lactating mothers: Pregnant or breastfeeding women are prohibited to drink red wine because the components might affect the mother’s overall health or even maybe the fetus. If they want to drink red wine, they should positively get the advice of a registered medical practitioner.

How Much Red Wine Is Good for You?

Drinking red wine in moderation will not cause any kind of health issues. Still, there are certain standards set by health experts and medical persons for consuming red wine so that it does not cause any adverse condition on your overall health. Such limits are as follows: (10 Trusted Source)

• 1 to 1 and a half glasses a day for women.
• 1 to 2 glasses a day for men.

Some experts claim that one can safely consume 1 to 2 glasses of red wine each day on average. But there should be gaps in-between the consumption. You should also go wine-free days each week so that your total alcohol content becomes balanced, and it does not cause any health adversities.