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Is wine healthy?
While wine, especially red, has long been regarded as a healthy drink that helps to reduce the risk of heart disease or other form of vascular diseases, do note that it is still a very controversial issue. But one fact is certain, too much wine, or alcohol, will do you more harm than good.

Studies have shown that those who drink wine moderately has a lesser risk of developing heart disease than non-drinker, but at the same time, alcohol has been linked with many other diseases such has high blood pressure, liver disease, stroke and cancer, among many others. So it is important that you drink moderately and seek professional medical help if you feel something is not right.

How much to drink?
The keyword here is moderation. But how much is too much? It varies from person to person. On an average healthy person, 2 glasses of day is probably the most you should take. If you are suffering from any health problems, or if you are pregnant, please remember to seek your doctor's advise on alcohol consumption.

How can wine make your healthier?
According to studies, one drink a day can be good for health. The study, which examined mortality in nearly 500,000 people between the ages of 35 and 69, found that those who took one drink (of wine, beer or hard liquor) a day, had a death rate 20% lower than non-drinkers during a nine-year period. Most of the benefits coming from lower instance of coronary heart disease. One drink was defined as 5 ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or one cocktail.

Alcohol can help the heart in two ways:

-By acting as an anti-coagulant, which eases blood flow and prevents blood clots from forming.
-By boosting HDL or good cholesterol and reduces LDL, the bad cholesterol.

Wine (either red or white) also contains anti-oxidants, which help to reduce the amount of fatty LDL deposits that can stick to the wall of the arteries.

Even though the research shows that moderate drinking can be beneficial, they also sound out a warning. Too many alcohols related incidents means that it is not advisable to drink too much as it poses a higher risk of dying from alcoholism or cancers of the mouth, throat and liver. It also increases the risk of young people dying from accidents, violence and suicide.

The same study also shows that even with moderate drinking, it increases the chance of woman dying from breast cancer by 30%, even though it lowered the overall risk of death.

All this means that if you are looking to reduce your risk of heart disease, you should not take up drinking. Instead, dieting, exercising and watching your weight are the more effective methods.

Having said that, you should decide if you want to drink or not, and in doubt, always consult your doctor. As for me, as long as I do not drink too much to harm myself, I will continue to enjoy the pleasure that comes from wine drinking.

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