While excessive consumption of virtually anything, including wine, is never adviseable, many studies continue to indicate that responsible consumption of wine can provide a wide range of health benefits. Below are noted a few, many of which were originally pointed out by our friends at the New York Wine & Grape Foundation.

LIVER DISEASE is often cited as one of the prevalent risks of alcohol consumption, but a new government-funded study published in Hepatology suggests that moderate red wine consumption may significantly reduce that risk. Conducted by researchers at California’s San Diego School of Medicine, the study showed that people who drank one glass of red wine a day cut in half their risk of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), the most common type affecting some 40 million U.S. adults. This suggests that the benefits may be due to the non-alcohol components of red wine such as resveratrol, a naturally occurring fungicide on the skins of grapes which also appears to have major health benefits for humans. The presence of resveratrol in red wine is due to the extended contact of the juice with the grape skins, which contain both the pigment for color and resveratrol. White wine has negligible amounts of resveratrol due to the intended absence of skin contact during processing, though a technical institute in Israel may have developed a process that will include resveratrol in white wine without changing the flavors. By contrast, people who consumed modest amounts of beer or spirits had over four times the odds of having NAFLD.

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE risk may be reduced by the polyphenolic compounds found in purple grape juice as well as red wine, according to new research from New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital published in the Journal of Neuroscience. Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti and his colleagues found that the polyphenolics in grape seed extract (which makes its way into wine and juice) fights a type of plaque which causes brain deterioration, and could reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s by 30% to 50% with normal (moderate) consumption.

AGING AND OBESITY may be fought by regular, moderate consumption of red wine, according to some recent studies. The key ingredient seems to be resveratrol, the naturally occurring fungicide produced by grapes to ward off plant disease which seems to do the same for humans. Red wines (but not white) contain resveratrol because of the prolonged skin contact during processing, which transfers both the pigment (color) and resveratrol into the wine. While a previous study suggested you’d have to drink 35 bottles a day to get the benefit (we don’t recommend that), a more recent study concluded that moderate daily consumption is beneficial in slowing the aging process. Meanwhile, a German study showed that resveratrol inhibits pre-fat cells from increasing in size and becoming mature fat cells, while also hindering fat storage. Resveratrol also reduced substances linked to the development of obesity-related disorders such as diabetes and clogged arteries.

ALCOHOL USE DISORDER (AUD), which essentially means drinking too much, may be significantly reduced when wine is more than 35% of total alcohol consumption, according to a recent Danish study. The research found that wine consumers were less likely to develop AUD than consumers of beer or spirits, which could be related to lifestyle differences or non-alcoholic substances in wine like polyphenols that may have some effect. Reacting to the study’s results, one prominent scientist suggested that the acids in wine, and especially tannins in red wine, make it difficult to consume a lot of wine by itself; and also make it more pleasant to have wine with food. When any alcoholic beverage is consumed with food, the blood alcohol level is much lower than without food, often by half. In other words, the inherent nature of wine does not lend itself to abuse.

LUNG CANCER RISK may be reduced by moderate red wine consumption, especially among current or former smokers, according to a new California study published in the journal, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.  The study by Kaiser Permanente Southern California involved more than 80,000 men aged 45 to 69.  Current and former smokers who drank red wine were 60% less likely to develop lung cancer than abstainers, with the reduction in risk even greater among heavy smokers in particular. White wine, beer and spirits had no effect, suggesting that the unique compounds in red wine such as resveratrol and flavanoids are responsible for the beneficial effects.  (Note: Many are also present in Concord grape juice, though this study did not examine that.  A recent UCLA study rated Concord grape juice #3 after only pomegranate juice and red wine in a listing of the top 10 healthy drinks.)  In a separate study, the resveratrol in red wine seems to have some benefits for the prevention and treatment of multiple sclerosis.