Wine and your health

Remember the old saying; a glass a day keeps the doctor away? For many, having a drink or two is often an important part of socialising and most of us enjoy a drink when we're relaxing. Nobody's saying that we should drink to excess, nor cut out drinking entirely, but it is important to have the facts about how alcohol can affect your health.

Each day we seem to become more aware of the health benefits of wine and how it can be good for our health. Taken in moderation, all the latest thinking and information points to the greater benefits of drinking wine compared to otherwise.

Wine combats prostate cancer

Drinking a glass of red wine a day may cut a man's risk of prostate cancer in half, and the protective effect appears to be strongest against the most aggressive forms of the disease, according to a new study led by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre in America. However, in the UK men diagnosed with prostate cancer are advised by oncologist doctors to refrain from alcohol!

Wine contains antioxidants

Antioxidants are something good that combat free radicals which are nasty (technical stuff, eh) because they can cause cell damage. Wine helps neutralise this process. Oh, all right then, so does fruit and vegetables, which are very good antioxidants. Nevertheless, let's hear it for the noble grape as well.

Wine helps digestion

Wine aids in the production of gastric juices which in turn can help digestion by breaking down food in the stomach quickly and effectively.

Wine can kill bacteria

According to some recent studies, red and white wine can be effective in killing three types of bacteria present in the stomach; salmonella, shigella and e-coli. The research suggests that a glass or two of wine with meals can help prevent such stomach problems that these types of bacteria can cause.

Heart attack recovery

For years researchers have tried to determine why the French have such a lower rate of cardiovascular disease, given the amount of fat consumed in their diets. Red wine has been identified as one of the suspects in maintaining a healthy heart, but now a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher has found that alcohol, in moderation, from any source not only maintains a healthy heart, but can reduce the damage to affected tissue following a heart attack.

Better minds on old age

A new study shows that one alcoholic drink daily helps women have better minds in old age. The study says women who want to have a good mind in their old age should drink a glass of alcoholic beverage on a daily basis. The women who consumed a beer or a glass of wine daily tended to have the mental agility of someone a year and a half younger than non-drinkers.