A 13-year Harvard University study of 20,000 women found that those who drank half a bottle of wine a day had a 70 per cent reduced risk of obesity compared to non-drinkers.
According to Washington State University the polyphenol found in red wine, resveratrol helps to transform “white fat” into the more easily burnt “beige fat”.
The powerful antioxidant resveratrol comes from the skins of red grapes. Resveratrol is also found in nuts, blueberries and strawberries. So no, you don’t need to always turn to the bottle to shed those pounds.
The weight loss benefits don’t stop there. Another study found that resveratrol also helps suppress your appetite. This means that a cheeky glass of red will help you to go straight to bed without stopping by the fridge for a midnight snack.
The U.S. government’s official alcohol body, the National Institute for Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has claimed that ‘when alcohol is substituted for carbohydrates, calorie for calorie, subjects tend to lose weight, indicating that they derive less energy from alcohol than from food’.
Not only can red wine help you lose weight, but researchers from Harvard Medical School have also reported that red wine has anti-ageing properties. Red wine drinkers have a 34 percent lower mortality rate than people who opt for beer or vodka, according to a 29-year-long study. Resveratrol protects against cell damage and prevents age-related mental decline.
This is not a new concept; in fact, European monasteries have claimed for years that a monk’s long life span is partially thanks to the regular consumption of red wine.
The benefits of red wine don’t stop there. Studies have shown that red wine can increase the healthy cholesterol HDL; it can improve type 2 diabetes, decrease the risk of breast and colon cancer, prevent dementia and even reduce the chances of depression.
We may have slightly rose tinted glasses when it comes to wine, but the science backs us up, this is one diet worth giving a go.
To find out why you should eat all the colours of the rainbow click here.
