Pass That Bottle of Wine

A glass a day for health.

We've all heard about the health benefits of drinking a little wine... it's already well-known as heart-healthy, but the list of beneficial wine attributes are increasing. Drinking wine may also help you lose weight, reduce forgetfulness, boost your immunity, and help prevent bone loss.

Although France and Italy has higher consumption rates of wine, America is catching up and will soon outstrip both. Women in America are buying more than 6 out of every 10 bottles-- and with good healthy reasons:

Don't Forget The Wine

Wine could preserve your memory. Researchers found that women who consumed one drink or more everyday scored much better on memory quizzes than those who drank less or not at all. Tedd Goldfinger, DO, of the University of Arizona School of Medicine explains that wine helps prevent clots and reduce blood vessel inflammation, both of which have been linked to cognitive decline, as well as heart disease. HDL, the good cholesterol, seems to be raised by alcohol, which helps unclog your arteries.

Habits of the Thin

Research has revealed that eople who drink wine daily have lower body mass than those who indulge occasionally. Alcohol may encourage your body to burn extra calories for as long as 90 minutes after you down a glass. Beer seems to have a similar effect. This effect is not true, however, for those imbibing liquor.

Wine for Immune Defense

Those who drank roughly a glass of wine a day reduced by 11 percent their risk of infection by Helicobacter pylori bacteria, according to a British study. Helicobacter pylori is a major cause of gastritis, ulcers, and stomach cancers. And, according to a Spanish study, as little as half a glass may also guard against food poisoning caused by germs like salmonella when people are exposed to contaminated food.

Wine Against Ovarian Cancer

Australian researchers recently compared women with ovarian cancer and cancer-free women. They found that roughly one glass of wine a day seemed to reduce the risk of the disease by as much as 50 percent. Earlier research at the University of Hawaii yielded similar findings. Experts believe this may be due to antioxidants or phytoestrogens which have high anti-cancer properties in the wine. And in a recent University of Michigan study, a red wine compound helped kill ovarian cancer cells in a test tube.

Wine for Better Bones

On an average scale, women who drink moderately appear to have higher bone mass than those who abstain. Alcohol appears to boost estrogen levels; and that hormone seems to slow the body’s destruction of old bone more than it slows the production of new bone.

Wine and Diabetic Issues

According to a ten year study at the Harvard Medical School, premenopausal women who drink one or two glasses of wine a day are 40 percent less likely than women who don’t drink to develop type 2 diabetes. The researchers never did find out the reasons why, but wine does seem to reduce insulin resistance in diabetic patients.