It’s peak red wine season—and if reports are anything to go by, we can comfort ourselves with the knowledge that red wine is considered a “healthy” alcoholic drink. But is that just wishful thinking? Or is red wine (in moderation) actually good for our gut, lifespan, and inflammation levels, as some studies seem to suggest?
Is red wine good for you?
“Alcohol, and therefore alcoholic drinks including red wine, is not good for us,” says Dr Federica Amati, public health nutritionist, medical scientist, and author of Recipes for a Better Menopause. “As with everything we eat and drink, there is nuance–drinking red wine is part of a much bigger picture of the things we do, eat and drink throughout our lives.”
Alcohol is a carcinogenic neurotoxin which causes inflammation, so any intake is worse than none at all, but the reason red wine has become associated with health is all down to its polyphenol content. “Red wine has a high content of polyphenols, which are healthy plant chemicals that counteract some of the negative effects of alcohol,” says Amati. “It’s also typically enjoyed with a meal and with friends or family, as well as being one of the traditional foods in the Mediterranean and Blue Zone diets.” Plus: it tastes good.
Despite the headlines that suggest it can be good for our health, often these stories tend to skew scientific findings to support a clickbait headline. Dr Amati also says there are “confounders in the population data when we look at wine consumption. People who drink red wine tend to have better diets and lifestyles which may make them healthier overall–this doesn’t mean the red wine by itself is healthy, but rather the lifestyle associated with being a red wine drinker,” she explains.
The truth is that no forms of alcohol are good for you. “All of the benefits of red wine, such as [the poylphenol] resveratrol, can be found in other foods and supplements,” says Dr Mark Hyman, a physician and functional health expert. “And women are even more impacted by the deleterious effects of alcohol than men. There are studies linking alcohol consumption to breast cancer. It depletes nutrients and harms your gut, liver and brain.”
It is also the enemy of a good night’s sleep, even when consumed in small amounts. “It might make you feel more relaxed to have a glass of wine at night, but I think you’d be surprised to see what alcohol does to your body while sleeping,” he adds. “Sleep is when we detoxify and repair–we don’t need to make it harder by adding alcohol, a toxin, into the mix.”
How much red wine should we be drinking then?
It’s not something many of us want to hear right now, but the less the better. According to Amati, it’s all about dose: “A glass of red wine with a meal and in the context of a healthy diet and lifestyle will not have the same negative effect as a bottle of wine drunk on an empty stomach in the context of a less healthy lifestyle,” she says. “For good health, the population data suggests that drinking one small glass with a meal might be beneficial.”
It’s important to note that if you don’t drink, there is no evidence to suggest that you should start. “It’s more about understanding what the sweet spot of benefits versus risks are if you do drink,” says Dr Amati. Her recommendation is to ensure you drink no more than three or four times a week, with a maximum of one small glass of red wine with a meal on drinking days. As an expert, she only drinks it very occasionally, and emphasizes that alcohol is not a big part of her life.
Hyman agrees, explaining that he treats alcohol the same way he treats sugar. “An occasional glass is fine, but daily can be problematic,” he says. “Stick to one serving, three to four times a week, at most.” And above all, if it doesn’t make you feel good, don’t do it.
As for the (particularly bad) red wine hangover…
There’s a reason for that. “Congeners, such as tannin and acetaldehyde, are high in red wine, and may stimulate the body to release stress hormones, making hangovers even worse,” says Dr Amati. If you don’t tolerate it well, avoid drinking it. You may also want to avoid other dark spirits too.
If you’re reluctant to forgo a nice glass of red wine altogether–’tis the season, after all–make sure to properly hydrate between drinks, and enjoy responsibly.
