Italian Red Wine – The Reasons Why It’s Your Ally for Health and Beauty

There’s nothing tastier than an amazing glass of Italian red wine.

No matter what your wine of choice may be, you can always be sure that you’re getting quality with every sip. Italy’s top producers pride themselves on creating wines that captivate and amaze in equal measure.

But there’s so much more to red wine than the amazing taste.

Beyond the grapes and the alcohol, Italian red wine offers an array of benefits for both health and beauty. We’re going to cover a few of them here. But first, we need a little disclaimer.

The key to experiencing any of these benefits is always to drink in moderation. A glass or two of red wine per day is the best way to unlock its healing powers. Several glasses consumed in a short period of time can cause as much harm as it does good.

So with all of these reasons why Italian red wine is great for health and beauty, just remember that moderation is the key.

Plenty of Antioxidants

The grapes used to make red wine contain tons of plant-based antioxidants. The most prominent of these are proanthocyanidins and resveratrol.

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ve likely seen us talk about resveratrol before. Found in the skin of the grape, many plants produce this antioxidant as a response to injury. In the case of the grapes, getting plucked from the vine may be such an injury, as may getting processed into wine. 

Studies link resveratrol to lower levels of oxidative stress. As a result, it’s likely that the antioxidant can help with a variety of conditions related to ageing, including heart disease and inflammation. Some studies suggest that it can also provide some level of protection against cancer, we well as reducing the possibility of blood clots.

Proanthocyanidins are an antioxidant that we haven’t covered in much detail before. But much like resveratrol, they’re responsible for reducing the levels of oxidative stress in the body. In other words, they can reduce a lot of the damage that free radicals cause to your cells and DNA. Again, studies indicate that this antioxidant can help to protect you from heart disease, with some animal tests also suggesting protection against some forms of cancer.

Simply put, grapes contain a lot of antioxidants, which your body uses to keep cells healthy. More antioxidants mean a stronger and healthier body, as well as protection from a range of health conditions.

Preventing Acne Breakouts

As you may have guessed from the commentary on antioxidants, red wine is also amazing for your skin. Its ability to repair cell damage means that it can slow down the signs of ageing, such as the development of wrinkles, because the antioxidants strengthen your skin cells.

However, there’s a more specific use for red wine that we’d like to highlight here.

Red wine can serve as part of a moisturiser that can limit, or even prevent, acne breakouts.

The key here lies in the wine’s anti-inflammatory properties. While there’s still a lot that we don’t know about the causes of acne, we know that the result of it is inflamed and damaged skin. Applying red wine to the affected areas can reduce this inflammation, as well as offering some antiseptic properties that limit the growth of bacteria. With microbes being one of the chief causes of the spread of acne, this is an extremely important function of red wine. A few dabs of the wine, combined with a good moisturiser, may help to give your smoother skin while reducing soreness in areas where you have acne breakouts.

Regulating Blood Sugar

In many parts of the western world, diet is a major concern. In the UK and the United States, many people eat diets that are heavy on processed foods, which causes havoc with their blood sugar levels. In more unfortunate cases, this can lead to the development of Type-2 diabetes. But even when that doesn’t happen, heightened blood sugar can result in insulin resistance that makes it harder for your body to break sugars down.

The good news is that some studies suggest that Italian red wine can help you to get a handle on your blood sugar levels.

One study had participants take a resveratrol (there’s that word again) supplement every day for three months. When researchers checked the results, they found that those on the supplement had much lower blood sugar than those who didn’t take it.

Of course, external factors, such as the diets of the participants, may have played a part here. But the results were consistent enough to suggest resveratrol, and by extension red wine, can help people to regulate their blood sugar.

Helping With Sleep

There are many who will suggest an alcoholic nightcap is a good way to get to sleep quickly. Others may tell you that drinking alcohol before bed isn’t recommended as it can lead to poor sleep.

So, where does wine fit into those recommendations?

While red wine obviously contains alcohol, it’s not this that’s the focus here. The wine also contains a hormone called melatonin, which your body uses to regulate your sleeping and waking patterns. A melatonin deficiency can play a part in your struggles to get to sleep.

Red wine can give you a hormone top-up.

Specifically, it’s the grapes used to make the wine that offers the highest concentration of the hormone. But if you don’t have any grapes to hand, regular (and moderate) consumption of red wine can help you with your sleep.

The Final Word

As surprising as it may be, Italian red wine offers a range of health and beauty benefits, many of which researchers are still in the process of discovering.

So, that glass you enjoy in the evening does more than just relax you, which is another health benefit by the way. It also strengthens your body and allows you to lead a healthier life!

Red wine is your ally for health and beauty and you can find plenty of it in the Xtrawine store.