Benefits of red wine
Benefits of red wine
Benefits of red wine
It is the first natural compound that is capable of blocking or stopping different stages of cancer development for a number of different cancer types. It is efficient in all three steps of cancer development: initiation, promotion, and progression.
Resveratrol fights cancer in various ways from blocking estrogens and androgens to gene control. It works against a large number of cancers at both the prevention level as well as the treatment level.
The large amount of resveratrol in red wine is due to the long fermentation of grape pulp, skin, and seeds. Polyphenols are mostly concentrated within the seeds of the grape. Rosés and white wines, having a much shorter fermentation period, contain much less resveratrol. Moreover, the bond with the alcohol allows for a better extraction of the resveratrol.
During the conservation phase, wine is protected against oxygen to avoid oxidizing its active compounds. This is not the case for raisins.
A laboratory analysis showed that resveratrol is particularly effective in preventing the development of breast cancer, colon cancer, and oesophageal cancer.
How to drink it?
Drinking one or two 125-mL glasses of red wine a day for men or one glass for women is the optimal amount needed to get these beneficial results. Drinking more, according to some studies, would produce the opposite effect. N.B.: Burgundy wine is extremely rich in resveratrol.
Sources and references
Last medical and editorial review: April 2024. See our web page validation committee and our collaborators by clicking here.