Regular but moderate consumption of wine has long been thought to have many health benefits, and there have been hundreds of studies showing a relationship with moderate consumption of wine and other alcohol helping to reduce diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, etc. leading to a longer healthier life. For example, various communities in Italy are known for living longer because of their Mediterranean diet and lifestyle, which includes regular consumption of wine.
Red wine in particular is considered to be the healthiest because they have the most antioxidants while white wines have less antioxidants and tend to have more sugar and sulfites. In particular, the antioxidant resveratrol is said to reduce bad cholesterol and prevent clots. Resveratrol is generally highest in the darkest skinned wine grapes like Malbec, Tannat, and Petite Sirah. However, Pinot Noir, despite its light color, has also developed a lot of resveratrol in their skins in order to be resistant to mildew and cold.
On the other hand, there may be other factors involved that skew the data. Moderate alcohol consumption in general has shown to be beneficial to health, so it might not necessarily be just the grapes. In addition, perhaps other lifestyle factors or genetics of wine drinkers could be involved in explaining their better health.
It is also certain that too much alcohol is detrimental to your health. Therefore, most doctors recommend no more than 1 glass a day for women and 1-2 glasses a day for men (1 glass is 5 oz or around 150ml). Drinking no alcohol is always better than drinking too much.
Moreover, more articles have been coming out saying that any alcohol consumption is bad for your health. Ultimately, I tend to take all articles about alcohol and health, both positive and negative, with a grain of salt since they’re all mostly click-bait and deceiving. The titles of such articles often draw massive conclusions from one rather limited or inconclusive study. For example, moderate alcohol consumption vs. zero might show an increase of 1-3% risk or benefit in one limited study, but it’s not at all causal or 100% that it will lower or improve your life expectancy.
One has to weigh the benefits and negatives even just for moderate consumption. There are thousands of factors, some within your control and beyond your control, that affect your health, and wine combined with other factors may come out more positive or negative in the long run. For example, as with other fermented products, small amounts of wine might also help your gut health, but too much sugar and alcohol can certainly damage it. If you already have a predisposition towards certain physical or psychological illnesses like alcoholism, obviously drinking alcohol is worse for you and should be avoided. If you have insomnia, alcohol can negatively affect that even though it may help you fall asleep. You have to find a balance with wine and other things. If you choose to drink moderately, then perhaps that means eating less meat, drinking less soda or exercising more. MW Konstantin Baum has good overall summary looking at all the positives and negative studies in this video.
One other important positive aspect of health and wine is the social aspect. Wine and other types of alcohol have been instrumental in human history of bonding people together and bonding us to nature and the divine, so drinking with others adds physical and mental health benefits that come with being social. Therefore, unhealthy drinking is not only excessive drinking but also drinking alone. Drinking with food also seems to be better for you than on its own, so drinking with family and friends at a meal seems ideal. This is typical in France and Italy, places famous for people eating rich foods and drinking while still staying thin and relatively healthy compared to other countries.
Lastly, many people think that the sulfites in wines cause headaches, but that is a myth.* It’s most likely the sugar, the tannins, or histamines (allergies).** Sulfites can affect people with asthma and give them digestive issues, but not headaches. Moreover, all wines have natural sulfites even if a wine label says no sulfites were added. However, many common foods you eat have more sulfites than wine with added sulfites.*** No matter what, it’s important to stay hydrated when drinking wine because alcohol dehydrates you.
*Here’s a recent article on wine allergies and sulfites.
** A recent study suggests it’s a combo of things including people just having a pre-disposition to migraine headaches and the way certain chemicals interact in wine.
*** This chart from Wine Folly compares wine to other foods in terms of sulfite content.
