This expands blood arteries, allowing increased blood flow. Your blood pressure may drop, lowering your risk of a heart attack or stroke.
But excessive drinking might raise blood pressure. This really raises blood pressure over time.
Red wine may lower your chance of heart disease, a global killer. Red wine includes antioxidant polyphenols, resveratrol in particular.
Another great benefit of polyphenol compounds in red wine is that they can improve insulin sensitivity.
Fermented foods in general (think yogurt, for example) are great to support a healthy gut microbiome. But so are the polyphenols in red wine.
Resveratrol again. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties protect us from oxidative stress. Thus, red wine may prevent glaucoma and cataracts.
One to three beers per day reduced the incidence of dementia and vascular dementia, according to a 2004 meta-analysis.
A study followed 5,505 high-risk depressed men and women for several years. Two to seven glasses of wine per week reduced the risk of depression.