Diet/NutritionHere's What Happens When You Drink Red Wine Every NightMandy OaklanderFor more, visit TIME Health.Alcohol is the Goldilocks of the nutrition world. Too much can be destructive to your health, raising your blood pressure and your risk of developing several kinds of cancer. Too little may hold you back from some of the benefits that moderate drinkers enjoy, like lower incidence of cardiovascular disease, mortality and type-2 diabetes.The amount that’s just right, according to a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, might be a nightly glass of wine with dinner—for some people, anyway.Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel wanted to look at how safe and effective it is for a specific group of people—those with well-controlled type-2 diabetes and who had a low risk for alcohol abuse—to drink moderately. People with type-2 diabetes are more likely than the general population to develop cardiovascular disease and have lower levels of heart-protective HDL cholesterol, the authors note.

They chose 224 people who fit this profile, and who didn’t drink wine currently, then assigned them to start drinking one of three things. At dinner, the people in the study were told to drink five ounces of one of the following beverages: mineral water, dry white wine or dry red wine. Under the guidance of dietitians, they also followed a Mediterranean diet without calorie restrictions—and kept it up for two years.Intermittently, they took questionnaires and were subjected to follow-ups, including blood draws at the start of the study, six months in and at 24 months, so the scientists could look at biomarkers of glycemic control, lipids and liver function.RelatedDiet/NutritionHere’s Why It Feels Like You Always Have Room for DessertDiet/NutritionHere’s Why It Feels Like You Always Have Room for DessertThey found that the red wine drinkers had significantly increased their levels of good HDL cholesterol and had a more beneficial cholesterol ratio compared to the group that drank water.

They were also the only group to experience a significant drop in components of metabolic syndrome. People who drank either red or white wine also reported better sleep quality than the group that drank water, and the researchers found no significant adverse effects with any group.beer and wine shop names(It's worth making it explicit that those who drank alcohol, drank just one glass per night, with meals.)“best wine bottles 2015This is what I’ve been telling people for years based on observational data,” says Dr. James O’Keefe, chief of preventive cardiology at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, who was not involved in the study. best rated wine cooler brand“It seems to me that my patients who drink red wine in moderation tend to do better, and this really solid gold-standard kind of research confirms our intuitions about the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol intake.”buy wine in wooden box

O’Keefe wasn’t surprised that the best results came from the group drinking red wine—which had resveratrol levels 13-fold higher than the white wine, according to the study. “Partly it’s the benefits of the alcohol, but red wine also contains a lot of unique antioxidants that are hard to get other places,” O'Keefe says. best ipad wine listAnd pairing it with dinner, like they did in the study, is key.“good wine for dinner dateIf you have a glass of red wine with your evening meal tonight, your peak blood sugar, if you measured it an hour later, would be about 30% lower than if you hadn’t had the wine,” O’Keefe says. The post-meal spike in sugar is one of Americans’ main sources of inflammation, which contributes to everything from diabetes to dementia to heart disease and arthritis, he adds. “It makes your system more able to sop up the sugar and the calories that you’re consuming in the meal if you have a little alcohol before,” he says.

But there’s a disclaimer, of course. Drinking every day can be a "slippery slope that a lot of people can’t safely navigate," O’Keefe says. “If they start drinking daily and they drink a bottle or two a day, that’s a disaster.”For those who can safely imbibe, one glass of dry red wine—like pinot noir or Cannonau—with the largest meal of the day is the very best pairing, O’Keefe says. “If you’re going to drink red wine, this study is a good reminder to do it the old fashioned way: drink it with a Mediterranean meal high in vegetables and fish and lower in meat, with fruit for dessert and using olive oil. Doing it in a social, relaxed setting also goes a long way to improving health and happiness.” QUIZ: Should You Eat This or That? Which is better for you: Half cup of ice cream or 3 scoops of sorbet?1 of 16Do you need a reasonable excuse to drink at least one or two glasses of wine each night? How bout five (reasons, not glasses)? In addition to catching a nice buzz and making you witty, drinking red wine every night brings some very legit health benefits.

Plenty of studies explore the health benefits of moderate red wine consumption, and the wise folks at Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Studies observed some of the most promising ones in the The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. Share this Image On Your Site

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For those of you who don’t enjoy reading biochemistry journals, we broke down some of their findings in a language you can understand. Protection Against Alzheimer’s: The antioxidant resveratrol shows a strong ability to protect against cell damage and curb the effects of age-related mental decline. The New Workout Plan: While the act of raising a glass to your lips may burn a calorie or two, the real benefit comes from resveratrol yet again, which was shown to improve physical performance and muscle strength.

It also shows similar cardiovascular enhancements as exercise. It should be noted that the benefits are limited, so don’t cancel your gym membership just yet. Cancer Fighting: Researchers aren’t exactly sure how, but another active antioxidant in red wine known as quercetin works against cancer cells, according to the American Cancer Society. It helps to induce natural cell death in certain types of cancers, most often colon cancer. The Fountain of Youth: Compared to beer and vodka drinkers, people who consume red wine have a 34 percent lower mortality rate. In this study resveratrol was credited as the compound that could be responsible for its longevity benefits. While researchers believe any diet rich in polyphenols has the ability to fight against chronic disease, red wine contains a higher concentration than most foods. A Happier Heart: A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, shared findings on a group of 224 volunteers who were told to drink either 5oz of mineral water, dry white wine, or dry red wine for two years with dinner.

Upon concluding the study, Time reports that “the red wine drinkers had significantly increased their levels of good HDL cholesterol and had a more beneficial cholesterol ratio compared to the group that drank water.”Red wine increases blood flow to certain, erhm, areas of the body. An Italian study showed that women who drank more than two glasses each day had a higher sex drive than abstainers, while a 2012 study showed that men who drank red wine had higher levels of testosterone, which is linked to having a high sex drive.A study of 5,505 participants showed that moderate alcohol intake was strongly associated with a lower risk of depression. Those who drank between two and seven glasses per week had the best results. Good things in moderation While lower cholesterol, better sex, and decreased risk of type-II diabetes all sound great, don’t assume that you can multiply that one glass by five and completely reverse the aging process, toss your Viagra and Lipitor in the trash, and go run the Boston marathon with zero training.