Wine lovers across the world have often been told that drinking red wine in moderation is good for their heart health. New research, however, was unveiled recently at the European Society of Cardiology and brings some interesting discoveries to light.
A trial named “In Vino Vertas” (In Wine, Truth) studied the effects of introducing wine into people’s lives and then tracking the effects the vino had on their bodies. This is one of the first studies conducted this way, as researchers will typically look at individuals who do or do not already drink wine.
The 146 people involved in this study were instructed to drink moderate amounts of wine five days per week; for men this was about 2 glasses per day, and for women this was about 1 glass per day. Half of the subjects drank pinot noir, and half drank a white chardonnay-pinot. All the alcohol consumption had to be logged in a journal, along with what they ate during the day and any physical activity they participated in.
The results? We thought you’d never ask!
• On it’s own, drinking wine did not seem to affect cholesterol, blood glucose, triglycerides, or levels of inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein.
• In an analysis of people who exercised and drank wine, the researchers found that there was a difference. People who worked out twice per week and drank wine saw significant improvement in cholesterol levels after moderate wine consumption for a year. The other interesting fact? It didn’t matter if it was red or white wine; both had the same positive effect on cholesterol.
We don’t know anything about science, but this is still pretty interesting to hear. Although the scientists saw no change over the course of a year in people who drank moderate amounts of wine and did not exercise, we would be interested to see the results for someone who has been a lifelong wine drinker. Maybe it takes longer for the benefits to take effect if you’re not exercising? We will just keep telling ourselves that as we sip our wine and stay out of the gym.