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Looking for a new hobby? Following red wine studies could keep you busy. It's good for your heart, but just a little a day. White wine and beer might work, too. Or the just plain weird: Red wine may help seniors stay steady.
And now, bad news for wine lovers: A new study has found that the cancer-fighting antioxidents in red wine work better sans the alcohol.
Spanish researchers asked 67 men to drink hefty protions of red wine (10 ounces), non-alcoholic red wine or gin (three ounces) daily for four weeks. They then rotated the drinks roster until they had spent a month imbibing each drink.
The men all had either diabetes or at least three heart disease risk factors, including high blood pressure, excessive weight or obesity, and smoking.
The only winner: Researchers found the non-alcoholic wine lowered heart disease risk by 14 per cent and the risk of stroke by 20 per cent. One explanation may be that the alcohol blocks the antioxident polyphenols.
"In the context of a healthy diet and a healthy lifestyle, daily consumption of de-alcoholized red wine can help prevent hypertension," said study author Gemma Chiva-Blanch in a Los Angeles Times piece.
And as it is with red wine studies, many of us are only too happy to find flaws and look for loopholes that legitimize our drinking habits. Los Angeles Times writer Samantha Bonar points out that the study was a small one and there are concerns being raised about its methodology.
More importantly, Ms. Bonar turns what is often seen as a negative - studies that focus on a single sex - into a repreive. "...they didn't say anything about the ladies! Drink up, sisters!"
Marketers of women-focused wines are no doubt chuckling into their glasses MommyJuice Wine. For now.