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16 Reasons to Drink Wine With Dinner Tonight
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13. Keep Your Peepers Healthy
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, presented a study showing that resveratrol stops uncontrollable blood vessel growth in the eyes. This means wine can help treat age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. Now these studies were done with mice, and human studies will need to be done to confirm this and to find out the proper dose, but this is a wonderful start and is good news for wine drinkers.
14. Protect Your Oral Health
Most people think red wine will stain their teeth — which is true if you drink large amounts and don’t care for your health — but did you know that wine can protect the overall health of your mouth? Wine has powerful antimicrobials that can reduce the amount of bacteria in the mouth and on the teeth. In fact, scientists note that those who drink wine have very little plaque when compared with non-wine drinkers.
15. Lowers Cholesterol Levels
The powerful antimicrobials that stop plaque from forming on the teeth also stop plaque from forming in your blood vessels. Resveratrol reduces the bad (LDL) cholesterol levels while increasing the good (HDL) cholesterol levels in the body. The American Heart Association admits that moderate amounts (meaning one glass a day for women and two glasses a day for men) of wine can increase your good cholesterol levels by as much as 12 percent, with absolutely no changes in your diet whatsoever.
SEE ALSO: 12 Shocking Health Benefits Of Whiskey (You Won’t Believe #9!)
16. Cuts Multiple Cancer Risks
As if the 15 points above were not enough reason, this is the clincher. First, studies have shown that a moderate consumption of wine can reduce the risk of colon cancer by a whopping 50 percent!
Breast cancer tumors use an enzyme in the body called aromatase to produce their own estrogen. Red grapes are one of the best aromatase inhibitors around. You can eat red grapes or drink red wine to kill breast cancer cells by cutting off a pathway known to feed cancer cells.
Yet another study, by Harvard Men’s Health this time, found that those who drank between four and seven glasses of wine each week had a 52 percent lower chance of developing prostate cancer when compared to those who did not drink wine.
Red wine appears to especially protective when fighting aggressive or advanced cancers. Scientists believe that it is the flavonoids and resveratrol which contain super antioxidants to counterbalance excessive hormones.
Extra Tips:
Don’t make the mistake of trying to get all of your health benefits from a bottle. Wine is part of a healthy lifestyle, but it won’t make up for unhealthy eating or other destructive lifestyle habits.
Look at the Mediterranean lifestyle, often touted as being the one of the healthiest diets in the world, and try to add more of that into your life.
Eat more fruits, vegetables, olive oil, coconut oil, and legumes.
Eat at a slower pace, and enjoy the meal.
Linger at the table, talking with family and friends.
And of course, enjoy that leisurely glass of wine without guilt.
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