Is Red Wine Good for Me?

Red wine has been thought to be good for human health for over 2,000 years. Even before the knowledge of modern science the ancient Romans believed that red wine had life prolonging qualities (Dennison, 2010). Certainly, we'd all like to believe that the alcohol we drink is good for us, but are the things that the Romans believed about wine true?

Some people believe that red wine is good for the heart because grape skins and seeds contain natural tannins called polyphenols. Polyphenols can lower both your blood-pressure and cholesterol, and also help prevent the hardening of the arteries (Dennison, 2010). Therefore, the natural assumption is that red wine is good for the heart, and by extension, good for overall health.

However, the Heart Foundation released information in 2010 that considerably weakens this argument. Red wine does not provide the body with enough anti-oxidants to affect human health (neither does coffee of chocolate), and the polyphenol hypothesis is poly-phony after all. The primary consensus today is that red wine has no health benefits. The Heart Foundation concludes that wine connoisseurs were kidding themselves all along.

Don't get depressed. The literature on this subject is still developing and in many cases studies yield dichotomous results. The good news is that most scholars agree that 1-3 servings of alcohol a day isn't a bad thing. You can follow the status of the alcohol debate on It's All Health to find out more throughout time.