Sugar Blossom

Beer, Wine, Whiskey, and More: Which Is Best for Your Health?

The push during the last decade was to drink wine, particularly the red variety, to obtain the greatest health bene? ts. Recent stud­ies on lower risk of heart disease, however, provide strong evidence that all alcoholic drinks are equivalently bene?cial to cardiovas­cular health. Thus, it appears that a substantial portion of the ben­e?t is from alcohol rather than other components of each type of drink. But you can’t rule them out completely. For instance, red wine, especially when made from grapes grown in colder climates, offers even greater cardiovascular protection, likely due to its con­tent of polyphenols contained in grape skin.

Resveratrol and other grape compounds like ?avonoids and anthocyanins, which are also healthy compounds found in plants, have been positively linked to ?ghting cancer, heart disease, degen­erative nerve disease, and other ailments. In reality, grapes of all colors, including lighter colored ones, bestow health bene? ts. Red wine has additional disease-?ghting power, compared to white or blush, only because many of these healthy compounds are found in grape skins and only red wine is fermented along with the skins. Resveratrol activates receptors for melatonin, a hormone with strong antioxidant properties (more on this in Step 3). Blood clot forma­tion is reduced, and consequently so are heart attacks. Moreover, if you are a heart attack patient or a coronary artery stent recipient consuming moderate amounts of alcohol, your artery walls will fare better than a teetotaler’s, as faster healing appears to be promoted by the alcohol’s anti-in?ammatory effects in the body.