The next time you down a five-liter box of Franzia in a single sitting, think of all the good you're doing to your body. Well, the good bottom-shelf red wine would do if consumed in moderation.
Researchers with Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev divided 224 patients into three groups: mineral water, white wine, and red wine drinkers. The only thing each person had in common was Type-2 diabetes; the goal over the next two years was to see how drinking five ounces of a beverage each night would affect their health.
After months of questionnaires, periodic check-ins, and blood draws, researchers found that red wine drinkers saw a boost in levels of good (HDL) cholesterol. They were the only group to see a significant drop in metabolic symptoms - which often includes fatigue, blurred vision, and increased thirst - and, along with white wine drinkers, reported sleeping better.
"This long-term RCT (controlled trials) suggests that initiating moderate wine intake, especially red wine, among well-controlled diabetics as part of a healthy diet is apparently safe and modestly decreases cardiometabolic risk. The genetic interactions suggest that ethanol plays an important role in glucose metabolism, and red wine's effects also involve nonalcoholic constituents," the study, published in October 2015 edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, concluded.
Before buying a bottle in hopes it will cure your insomnia, be advised that researchers were specific in testing subjects with diabetes. They were under the guidance of dietitians and only drank one glass of wine a night, with their dinner.
To get a semblance of these benefits, one must remember to always drink in moderation.
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