Betty's Wine Musings
Health Benefits of Wine, Grape Juice and Grapes - some rights reserved by AngelsWings
Health Benefits of Wine, Grape Juice and Grapes – some rights reserved by AngelsWings

Wine lovers love to hear about the many health benefits of wine:

  • It raises good cholesterol
  • It reduces bad cholesterol
  • It reduces the risk of strokes and heart attacks
  • It reduces the occurrence of kidney stones in women
  • It is enjoyable!

Can people who don’t love wine get the same benefits from drinking grape juice or eating grapes?

It turns out that they can get some of the benefits.

Here’s how it works. Red and purple grape products appear to reduce the risk of heart disease by relaxing the blood vessels, allowing blood to more easily flow. This benefit is most likely due to antioxidants called polyphenols found in the skin and seeds of grapes — especially dark red and purple grapes. One of the most important of these is resveratrol, which is believed to prevent blood vessel damage.

Y0u’ll find a much higher concentration of the polyphenols, including resveratrol, in red wine compared to white wine or grape juice. Why? Because in the making of red wine, the skin and seeds are part of the fermentation process. In the making of white wine, the skin is removed. In the making of grape juice, both the skin and seeds are removed.

While grapes contain the polyphenols, including resveratrol, it turns out that the pH value and temperature conditions of the stomach aren’t conducive to the extraction of these compounds from the grapes. So the resveratrol benefits you get when you eat grapes are minimal. Nevertheless, grapes are a good source of antioxidants. You also get the benefit of the fiber from eating whole grapes.

Now for a sobering thought from Stephen Barrett, M.D., in his article entitled “Resveratrol: Don’t Buy the Hype”. Barrett reminds us that “Resveratrol has not been tested in clinical trials, and most clinical trials of other antioxidants have failed to demonstrate the benefits suggested by preliminary studies. My advice is to ignore the hype surrounding resveratrol and eat a balanced diet that contains adequate amounts of fruits and vegetables.”

Richard Baxter, MD, adds to that on WebMD.com by saying, “It is difficult to sort out how much of the benefits [associated with wine] are from the chemical properties of wine vs. the types of behaviors that wine drinkers tend to have such as less stress in their lives. Wine is part of the Mediterranean diet… This diet is more of a lifestyle that includes drinking wine with dinner. Studies show that the Mediterranean diet is associated with longer, healthier lives.”

Bottom Line: If you drink wine, enjoy it, and enjoy the associated health benefits, whatever they may be 🙂

If you have additional information on the health benefits of wine that you can share with us, I would love to see it.

Cheers!

As an independent wine consultant with WineShop At Home, I absolutely enjoy bringing a taste of the Napa wine country home to you one sip at a time. Whether you simply love to drink wine, seek a special personalized wine gift, or are in search of a new wine jobs opportunity as a wine consultant, feel free to contact me for a truly unique wine tasting experience!

Cheers, Betty Kaufman
WineShop At Home

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12 comments

  1. I’ve always thought that a glass of wine with dinner is a definite health benefit! I agree with what is being said about the Mediterranean lifestyle…a lot of our health is affected by our mindset and how we choose to live our lives…drinking wine (in moderation of course!) has been a benefit to mankind as long as it’s been around!

  2. I know it helps the heart I have a friend who was told by Md to have 1 glass 3-4 days a week versus the cocktails he used to have. This represented moderation for this bloke and his wine has yeilded positive results

  3. yes. yes. yes. Polyphenols are my new favorite word. Have you seen that commercial where the guy says “fiber makes me sad”… if he thought of grapes as fiber – maybe he would be happier!

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