Sipping To Good Health: Why Wine is Fine
Saint Thomas Aquinas was not far off when he said, “Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath, and a glass of wine.” We’re all for sleep and baths but we can’t lie- we love wine. Thankfully, wine loves us back.
Unwin(e)d
Many people point to their nightly glass of red as their go-to way to unwind. According to Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D. and certified internist, people from over 5,000 years ago would agree.
He notes that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, lulling you into a calm state of sedation.
Furthermore, the resveratrol in red wine stimulates PARP-1, a stress-response protein that also suppresses tumor genes and promotes longevity.
Wine Over Water
A study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel studied how wine affects people with well-controlled type-2 diabetes. Researchers chose 224 people who did not drink wine and divided them into three groups; one would drink mineral water, one dry white wine, and the other dry red wine. A Mediterranean diet was followed by all three groups.
The study found that the red wine drinkers had a more beneficial cholesterol ratio and higher levels of good HDL cholesterol over the group that drank water. The red winers also experienced a drop in components of metabolic syndrome.
Both red and white wine drinkers also experienced better sleep.
Lower Your Risk of Alzheimer’s, Increase Your Life Span
Along with reducing stress, the resveratrol in red wine has been noted to decrease the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and has been shown to increase your life span.
Though researchers aren’t yet sure why resveratrol is conducive to preventing Alzheimer’s- and even slowing it down- the study was a step in the right direction for treating the disease.
A Glass a Day
Okay, before you drink the entire bottle, medical professionals agree that the magic number is one glass a day. Alcohol is technically a toxin to the body, and though the body can absorb certain nutrients from it, cells are still damaged in the digestive process.
Drinking more wine than you should can harm the liver, affect metabolism- thus interrupting sleep- and worsen gastritis and nighttime acid reflux,
But don’t let that encourage you to re-enact Prohibition- wine, like all things, is good in moderation. A toast to your health!
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