The Many Health Benefits of Italian Wine

Drinking wine is wonderful for your social life in addition to providing a huge variety of tastes and flavours for you to enjoy. That much is already known about Italian wine.

What may be a little less known are the many health benefits that drinking wine, in moderation of course, can have on the human body.

In fact, medical professionals and researchers throughout the world have conducted research on the reputed benefits of Italian wine and have found that many of the things said about it are actually completely true.

So what are the benefits? Perhaps more importantly, how can Italian wine help you to live a healthier and happier life? Here we take a look at just a few of the many positives that Italian wine brings to the table.

Fewer Heart Attacks

A study conducted by the famous Harvard University found that those who drink in moderation and suffer from high blood pressure are around 30% less likely to suffer from a heart attack that those who are in a similar position and choose not to have the occasional drink.

This study was hardly on a small scale either. It took in more than 11,000 people, all of whom were examined for a period of 16 years to essentially monitor their habits and find out what happened to them over that time period.

As such, it is pretty safe to say that drinking the occasional glass of wine will allow you to have less fear about potentially suffering a heart attack.

Anti-Aging

For more than a thousand years people have spoken about the restorative properties of red wine in particular, saying that it can revitalise the skin and help a person to feel even younger than their years. Monasteries of the era were also more than happy to claim that their monks’ supposed longer lives could be attributed to the fact that the consumed red wine on a regular basis.

It sounds like a little bit of an old wives’ tale, but it actually appears to have more truth contained within that you might think.

Once again research by the Harvard Medical School has apparently shown that red wine in particular can have many positive effects when it comes to anti-aging. This is because it contains something called resveratrol, which was found to improve the lifespan and condition of mice who it was fed to in clinical studies.

This appears to pass over into humans as well, so consuming any source of resveratrol, which is also in the skin of red grapes, cranberries and blueberries, is more likely to lead to a longer and healthier life.

A Better Memory

Wine isn’t just great for your heart and your overall health, it can also help with your mind. In particular it appears to have a very positive effect on both short and long-term memory. In fact, research conducted on a group of elderly women once showed that those who enjoyed wine in moderation on a regular basis demonstrated far better powers of recall than those who didn’t.

Furthermore, information from the University of Arizona claims that the consumption of wine also helps to reduce blood clots and, as previously stated, heart disease. Both of these are linked to decreased cognitive function.

As such, consuming wine is most definitely recommended for those who wish to ensure that they maintain their mental faculties in later life. It is especially useful for those who fear afflictions such as Alzheimer’s, as the improved functionality of the brain reduces the chances of such an issue developing or, at the very least, can help to slow it down and reduce its impact.

Protects Against Some Forms of Cancer

While proclaiming wine is effective in prevention of cancer as a whole would be inaccurate, especially given that there are so many types of cancer that can’t simply be lumped under the banner of a single disease, it has been proven that it can protect against a number of different forms.

According to research conducted at the University of Crete, the phenolic compounds found in red wine that can help lower the risk of heart issues can also be effective when it comes to allowing the rate of growth of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, later research also showed that it can be effective against prostate cancer cells as well.

Remember resveratrol, which we spoke about earlier in relation to anti-aging? It also appears to have some benefits when it comes to cancer prevention. A study by French scientists shows that it can help to prevent the spread of liver cancer.

Finally, red wine as a whole has also been linked to the prevention of oral cancer, at least according to a study by the University of Missouri. So, while wine can’t ward off every type of cancer, the research shows that it can certainly help against some of the most dangerous and common types.

Lower Risk of Strokes

We mentioned earlier how red wine can help in reducing the possibility of a person suffering a blood clot, but this has benefits far beyond improved circulation and cardiovascular health.

Blood clots are also one of the leading causes of strokes, so consuming a moderate amount of alcohol can actually reduce your chances of getting a stroke later on in life.

In fact, a study by Columbia University places the probability of suffering from a stroke that is related to a blood clot at 50% less if you drink alcohol of any kind on a regular and moderate basis.

Protects Against Sunburn

Before we get started with this final point, we want to say that we aren’t suggesting you cover your body in red wine before you sunbathe. That would be an awful waste of the wine after all.

However, a study conducted by scientists at the University of Barcelona appears to show that wine and various grape derivatives can help to reduce the amount of damage caused by ultraviolet light, which is the type of light produced by the sun.

In particular it is the flavonoids that are helping, as they prevent the activation of reactive oxygen species, which slows the oxidation of fats and DNA. This prevents the stimulation of enzymes that harm the skin.

Of course, we still recommend that you take some sun cream out if it is going to be a hot day.