5 Major Health Benefits of White Wine
You’ve heard it once; you’ve heard it a million times – red wine is great for your health. A glass of red a day keeps the doctor away, etcetera, etcetera.
Red wine is often praised for its health benefits. This is because many of the medicinal properties and nutrients are found in the grape's skin. But, we’re here to make a case for red wine’s sweeter, lighter cousin – white wine.
Throughout the years, scientists have documented the benefits of red wine - you’re probably familiar with a few. It is known that consuming this food lowers cholesterol. The antioxidants in it help protect your heart, balance blood sugar levels, boost brain function, and fight off colds. There are even more benefits.
What people don’t know is that white wine has many of the same health benefits. In fact, white wines might even have a higher antioxidant capacity than your reds!
Let’s take a closer look at how white wines improve our overall health.
Weight Loss
These days, it seems like everyone is constantly trying to shape up and slim down. White wine contains those magical antioxidants you hear so much about – specifically epicatechin, quercetin, and resveratrol. What do all those hard-to-pronounce words have in common? They help you trim that waistline.
The antioxidants promote weight loss when you consume one or two glasses of white wine per day. Be careful, though -- over-indulging will have the opposite effect because calories can add up quick!
Disease Prevention
Research reveals that white wine can protect against some forms of cancer, especially bowel cancer. It contains flavonoids that have antioxidant properties – just like red wine, which helps prevent against cancer.
But that’s not all. In 2002, it was discovered that white wine protects cells from breast cancer just as effectively as red wine.
We know cancer isn’t the only thing plaguing our community’s health. White wine has been linked to improved memory function and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. This disease affects more than 5 million people.
Protects Heart
White wine fans rejoice. A new study suggests that white wine is just as good for your heart as red wine.
Apparently, white wine just doesn’t get enough credit! Grapes' skin is high in antioxidants and nutrients. Recently, it has been discovered that the pulp of grapes is also healthy. Two glasses of white wine per day can reduce the risk of heart disease by at least 25 percent.
Keeps Lungs Healthy
You can breathe easy, white wine drinkers. A study from the University of Buffalo reveals that drinking white wine directly correlates with better lung function. How? White wine possesses the necessary nutrients to keep the lung tissues healthy and working well.
Although consuming red wine also benefits the lungs, white wine has proven to be much stronger. Researchers suggest it’s because white wine contains antioxidants that stop the development of molecules called "free radicals" that destroy lung tissue.
Reduced Hangover
What an interesting phenomenon – the hangover. Why do we get hangovers from drinking? There is a pesky thing in alcoholic beverages called "congeners," a chemical byproduct responsible for the taste, aroma, and color of the beverage.
Luckily, white wine has low levels of congeners compared to red wine. By drinking white wine, you’re less likely to be hungover the next day.
Now that we've sold you on the health benefits of white wine, I think we're all in agreement that it's time to stock up. Cheers!
Originally published: 1/13/2017
