A couple taking wine [Photo/Pinterest]
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve surely heard of the heart-healthy benefits of red wine. Check out the following benefits of wine that go way beyond heart healthiness.
Live Longer. Daily wine consumption is part of a dietary pattern that 'promotes' longer life spans through eating fewer animal-based foods and eating more plant-based foods. Wines produced in areas of southwest France where people tend to live longer, have particularly high concentrations of the compound.
Breast Cancer. Red grapes are the fruit best able to suppress the activity of aromatase, the enzyme used by breast tumors to produce their own estrogen – this is called an aromatase inhibitor. Red wine may serve as a nutritional aromatase inhibitor, which may ameliorate the elevated breast cancer risk associated with alcohol intake.
Prostate Cancer. Red wine appears particularly protective against advanced or aggressive cancers. Doctors speculate that flavonoids and resveratrol contain potent antioxidants and may counterbalance androgens, the male hormones that stimulate the prostate.
Regulate blood sugar levels without drugs. Red wine is abundant in polyphenols. The polyphenols in wine interact with cells involved in the development and storage of fat and the regulation of blood sugar. The amount of polyphenols in a small glass of red wine appears to rival the blood sugar regulating activity of certain diabetes drugs.