Healthy Spirit: Wine

5 Ways Wine is Beneficial to Your Health

• A French study showed that moderate wine consumption (2-3 glasses per day) is associated with a 30% reduction in all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease and cancer among men. (Epidemiology, March, 1998)
• A Harvard University study showed that moderate wine consumption among women reduced the risk of kidney stones by 59%.
• A study at the University of California, Davis in 2000 showed that even non-alcoholic red wine is good for the heart. When the alcohol is removed, the flavonoid catechin is still present in the wine and provides heart-health benefits.
• Resveratrol, found in grape skins and seeds, increases HDL (good) cholesterol and prevents blood clotting. 
• Polyphenols – compounds in grape skins and present in red wine – decrease the production of a protein that causes blood vessels to constrict and reduces the flow of oxygen to the heart. The protein, endothelin-1, is believed to play a key role in the development of heart disease, according to a study at Queen Mary University of London.