Mythbusters: Is Red Wine Healthy?

Ep 157

You’ve probably heard that a glass of red wine is “good for you” but how much of that is actually true?

The idea that red wine is “healthy” has been around for decades: from the French paradox, to antioxidants and longevity claims. It sounds convincing and honestly, it’s something a lot of people want to believe. But when you actually look at the research, most of it comes down to correlation, not causation. And that changes everything.

In this episode, I’m breaking down where this myth came from, what science actually supports, and why wine isn’t something you should ever consider medicine. We’ll also talk about what those “health benefits” really mean, what alcohol is actually doing in your body, and why wine is, at best, a trade-off and not a health strategy.

Thank you to our exclusive sponsor, First Bottle Wines, for sponsoring this episode. Go to www.firstbottlewines.com and use code CORKANDFIZZ for 10% off your order! (And be sure to sign up for their mailing list so you never miss a bottle!)

Episode Highlights:

• The real origin of the “red wine is healthy” myth
• What the French paradox actually means
• Why correlation is not the same as causation
• The truth about antioxidants in wine
• What alcohol actually does in your body
• Why “clean” and “low sugar” wine claims are misleading

Transcript

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If you love discovering top class wine at everyday prices, today's sponsor, First Bottle Wines, is going to be your new favorite place to shop. First Bottle Wines is a Napa based online wine store with the same killer deals as their sister company Last Bottle, but with hundreds of bottles to explore. I'll share more later in the episode, but for now go to firstbottlewines.com and use code corkandfizz for 10% off. Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start? You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Hailey Bowman and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle based wine tasting business Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total court dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. Today I have another episode for you of my mythbuster miniseries. We are getting down to the end. I think I have three more of these ready to go for you. I hope you've learned a ton of these and are enjoying these as much as I am. I think it's been really fun to kind of dig into the myths, where they came from, why does it come up and then really just kind of be like, here are the facts, here's at least what I know about it. And then of course getting to share my opinion on it because it is my podcast after all. But after this we'll start getting into a little bit longer episodes as well. And let me know if you have any topics you want to talk about. One of them that I have coming up is talking about carbonic maceration, because admittedly I don't know a whole lot about this and it's still one of those things in the wine world that I get confused on. So I know that's on the list. But if there are other things you want to learn about certain types of wine, I haven't done one of those variety deep dives in a while. Or if there's a region of wine you want to learn about, let me know. Come find me on Instagram. I'm at Cork and Fizz. You can Find me on Facebook as cork and fizz as well. Or you can email me haleyorkandfizz.com but now it's time to get into our myth today. And the myth we are talking about today is that red wine is healthy. I'm so sorry if this is disappointing you. I'll be sharing the facts as I know them, and I. I don't think you'd be too upset by the end of this. This is not me trying to keep you from drinking wine. This is me just making sure you understand, you know, what, what it means when you're drinking wine. My favorite thing to say is that red wine is healthy. Or honestly, any wine, any wine is healthy for the soul, right? Like, we love it. There are great things that come out of it. I don't know if I would ever call it medicine. So let's dive into this myth. Where did this myth even come from? There's some research that's been done into this. And what they primarily blame for this myth is what's called the French paradox. And in the early 1990s, what this was is that researchers in media highlighted that French people had relatively low rates of heart disease despite having diets high in saturated fat. If you've ever been to France, you would understand this. Think lots of cheese, everything is cooked in butter, right? When I was there, I was taking lactate with every meal because I knew there was lots of dairy happening. And the theory became that despite having these foods high in saturated fat, well, they were also drinking a lot of red wine. And so it must be. Must be the red wine that was protecting their hearts. And so this idea got picked up by the media, especially in the US and suddenly red wine went from being indulgent to, hey, I'm having my glass of wine tonight, cuz it's good for my heart. It's basically medicine. But the problem is that association that, like, oh, red wine must be protecting their hearts. That's correlation, not causation. If you've ever heard that before, it's basically them making a connection between two things. Oh, French people have lower rates of heart disease. French people drink a lot of red wine. Must be connected. That is not always the case. Here's the thing. French people also walk more, right? They don't drive around as much. They eat smaller portions. Ever met somebody from Europe and they see the portions in the U.S. they go, Holy moly, how are you eating that much? They also have different food culture. They have different healthcare, Right? So all of these things are also true. So you could have connected those, but wine was the one that got connected and got all the credit. Now, it's not entirely a myth that red wine contains positive benefits for your health. And we're going to talk about each of these, but you'll notice there's a pattern. And I'm, I'm going to mention it at the end, too. A lot of this comes from correlation, not causation. It's like we're trying to connect the two things. Like, oh, when you drink wine, this can happen. But the thing is that there's no real way to kind of isolate just wine causing something. And I wouldn't go as far as to say the health benefits that come from drinking wine are healthy in the same way. Like saying, like, eating an apple is healthy, right? Like, wine is still an alcoholic beverage. Alcohol is still a chemical that is bad for your body. So we can never truly say that wine is healthy. Healthy. Just a quick reminder, if you are not on my mailing list yet, what are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. Now, let's get back to the show, but why don't we go ahead and dive into some of those health benefits that you may get from wine? And again, keeping in mind, these effects are not guaranteed. They're also not unique to wine, and they're often tied to an overall healthy lifestyle and diet. So first up, let's. Let's dive into the heart health, since that's kind of the one that I feel like started everything. So red wine has polyphenols like resveratrol and proanthocyanins. Cydinides. It's a really long word. And these have been studied for potential cardiovascular effects, such as improved hdl, which is your good cholesterol, and lowering ldl, which is your bad cholesterol and also helping to reduce clotting. Now, some observational studies notice observational meaning they're just watching people who have been drinking wine suggest that moderate drinkers had lower mortality from heart disease compared to both heavy drinkers. Makes sense, right? But also people who didn't drink wine at all. And so this especially is where they went. Well, you know, if these people who drink some have, you know, lower mortality from heart disease than those that don't drink at all. It must be the wine. But again, here's the catch. That doesn't mean that wine is protecting their hearts. It might mean that moderate drinkers tend to have healthier lifestyles overall. This is just, again, correlation rather than causation. Another reason that people point to wine as having some benefits for your health is the antioxidants and inflammation help that it does. So, again, polyphenols found in red wine can act as antioxidants, and they've done lab studies, and these can reduce oxidative stress. Right, Antioxidants. When you hear anything, you know, antioxidants is a very common buzzword, and antioxidants are good for your bodies. But these antioxidants do exist in high amounts in many plant foods. Think berries, dark chocolate, tea. And the amount in wine is relatively modest compared to some of these foods. So, yes, you could get some antioxidants from drinking a glass of red wine, but I can't imagine any doctor would recommend, you know, you need some more antioxidants. Make sure you drink that glass of red wine tonight. They're probably more likely to recommend some healthy plant foods for you instead. Again, not saying red wine is bad. It's just not going to come up as a recommendation from a health professional. There is also some early research that shows that wines can be good for your gut health. So those polyphenols that we talked about earlier in red wine, they could support good gut bacteria. But again, those polyphenols, they are found in other foods. You could just eat whole grapes and they would also have the polyphenols and they wouldn't have the alcohol. There's also research that shows that moderate alcohol consumption, so this is, this isn't just red wine, actually can help with a slower cognitive decline. So it could be good for brain health. But again, evidence is mixed and may just reflect an overall lifestyle habit. So people who are having drinking moderate alcohol probably also work out fairly often. Probably also do, I don't know, brain puzzles or things that, like, help their brain. So it's not necessarily the wine that is causing this. Moderate alcohol, again, has been associated in some studies with improved insulin sensitivity. So it's good for blood sugar maybe. Again, research is not definitive. And drinking alcohol is not recommended as a treatment strategy. You're never gonna go in, have, you know, a doctor tell you your blood sugar is high and be like, ah, I know, have a glass of red wine. That will Help. And finally, there have been some studies that show that red wine can be good for your eye health. Those polyphenols, like especially resveratrol, have shown in laboratory and animal studies to have antioxidant, anti inflammatory and anti angiogenic which apparently blocks abnormal blood vessel growth. They have all these properties that might protect against eye diseases where oxidative stress is involved. So this could be age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. There have been large observational studies or research out of the UK that found that moderate wine consumption, again this is usually about like one glass a day, were associated with a lower likelihood of needing cataract surgery compared with abstainers. So we're like, oh, people who drink a little bit need less cataract surgery than ones that don't drink at all. But again, most of the observational findings that linked wine with reduced risk of cataract surgery, or even those studies that showed that the antioxidant, anti inflammatory, you know, the, the polyphenols like resveratrol showed that it could protect against age related macular degeneration. They're all associations or they're based off compounds that are found in wine that are also found in other things. Right. So other factors like diet, exercise, socioeconomic status and overall health habits could explain these links rather than the wine itself. So if you haven't noticed the pattern yet, let me, let me spell it out for you. Today's episode is brought to you by First Bottle Wines, the sister site to Last Bottle that lets you explore way more incredible wine all in one place. If you've ever loved a bottle from Last Bottle and wished you could find more like it, that's exactly why First Bottle exists. It's where collectors and everyday drinkers go to find their favorites for less. First Bottle is run by the same Napa based buying team who tastes over 50,000 wines a year. Which means everything you see, from legendary producers to hidden gem daily drinkers, has already been vetted by the pros. And because they source directly from wineries and importers, the prices are often far below retail. I love that it feels like a real wine lover's shop. Tons of options and great vintages and bottles for everything from a Tuesday night pasta night with the girls to a dinner party with your in laws that you need to impress. There's no fluff, no gimmicks, just remarkable wine chosen by experts, plus free shipping when you buy six bottles or more. So head to firstbottlewines.com and use code cork and fizz for 10% off your order. And have fun browsing because this site is dangerous in the best way. While studies may show that those who moderately drink wine show certain health benefits, none of these can be attributed directly to the wine. It's not just wine causing this for sure. It is all correlation. It is that people who drink moderate amounts of wine have, may have, and it's not everyone, they may have these health benefits. There is no study that can isolate just wine drinking as the reason for these health benefits, or at least none that currently exist. And the reality is, while wine may contain the helpful compounds, it also contains alcohol. Alcohol is classified as a carcinogen. It is why I am currently not drinking it while I am pregnant. It increases your risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, liver cancer, even at lower levels. So even if red wine contains helpful compounds, alcohol itself is still actively harmful in the body. It can increase inflammation, it disrupts your sleep, it strains the liver, it raises your cancer risk. So with all that said, even with these health benefits, the best that wine can be is neutral. It's a trade off. And I say all this not to scare you away from wine. I'm not saying alcohol bad. Don't drink any more wine, right? Or make you feel bad for drinking it. I love wine and I know the downsides of drinking alcohol. I still plan to drink wine just moderately and with the knowledge that it's good for my soul, but not because it's good for my health. One last thing on this topic. Don't let clean, low or no sugar or fit wines fool you. They are not any healthier than the wine that you buy at your local winery. These labels sound healthy, but they don't actually mean much clean. Oh, it is the bane of my existence when it comes to wine. It's like one of my biggest pet peeves. This term isn't regulated at all in the wine world. It could mean organic, it could mean filtered, it can mean literally nothing at all. Think about the word clean on their wine and I don't think anybody can stop them. So don't let a clean wine fool you into thinking it's healthier than like buying something. Like I said at your local winery, maybe it's better for you than something from the supermarket because it doesn't have any additives. But again, it depends on your definition of better for you. It still has alcohol. When it comes to low or no sugar wines, most dry red wines already have no sugar. The sugar in the wine or the calories from the wine are just from the alcohol in the wine. Almost all of the sugar in the wine or in the grape juice gets turned into alcohol during fermentation. So if a wine says low sugar, that doesn't make it any different than any of the other dry red wines that exist, right? It doesn't make it healthier. It still has alcohol. And I'll be honest, I don't even know what makes a fit wine fit. I've seen wines labeled as fit. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I don't know if it's just meant to be, like, hey, you have a fit lifestyle. This wine would be good for you. Why? I don't know. So unless a fit wine means it doesn't have alcohol, there's no way that it's better for you than any other wine. And instead it's kind of just a bunch of bs, in my opinion. So drink wine because you love it. Drink mindfully and in moderation. Learn about it if you're curious. Just don't think you're doing your heart any favors other than, again, just making yourself happy drinking wine. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, would so appreciate it. Take a quick second rate it, leave a review. I know it was a shorter episode, so you got some time, right? Go ahead, jump on Apple Podcasts, get on whatever app you're listening to this now, and please give me a rating. I mean, five stars would be preferred if you enjoy this, but you can be honest. I promise I won't be too hurt. And if you know a wine lover in your life, especially one that might believe wine is healthy, maybe this would be a fun one to send to them. And if you'd like to show additional support for the show, you can become a paid subscriber, click the link in the show notes, and become a monthly supporter. For$10 or less a month, you'll get a shout out in the next episode I record. Plus, if you do choose the $10 per month option, you'll get to choose a topic for a future episode. In next week's episode, we will be talking to winemakers out of Michigan. Yes, I said Michigan, a state in the US you don't always think of as Michigan making wine. And turns out this state is producing some really good wines and I'm just a bit behind the time. So luckily the winemakers at Stranger Wine Company helped fill me in on all the amazing winemaking happening in this Midwest state. Trust me, you won't want to miss this. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, come follow me at corkandfizz on Instagram. Cheers.