We’re always a little skeptical when a new study comes out boasting the health benefits of drinking alcohol, but there’s a lot of research suggesting that drinking wine in moderation can be good for us. And anew studyfrom Kings College in London finds that drinking an occasional glass of red wine can be good for gut health.
Researchers interviewed close to a thousand (916) female twins in the U.K. about their eating and drinking habits and gut bacteria and compared those findings to the results of similar studies done in the U.S. and Belgium. And they found that red wine drinkers have “increased gut microbiota diversity” - which is a sign of good gut health - compared to white wine, beer, and liquor drinkers.
The “good” microbes linked to drinking red wine may be due to the polyphenols found in red wine. These are naturally found in lots of fruits and vegetables and they have beneficial properties, including antioxidants. So if you’re going to drink, study author Caroline Le Roy advises, “red wine is the one to pick” because of the positive effect on gut microbes, which she says “may in turn help weight and risk of heart disease.”
But this doesn’t mean we should all go out and down a bottle of red, researchers say drinking red wine once every couple weeks is enough to have positive gut health effects.
Source:New York Post