Drink Red Wine For A Healthier Gut?

Could drinking red wine actually help you build a stronger immune system? Here are some interesting new findings….

While we all know excessive alcohol consumption isn’t good for us, this time of year all our good intentions seem to go out the window when faced with weeks of holiday parties and work happy-hours.

The good news is, there are actually some health benefits to drinking wine – especially of the red varieties, so you can stop beating yourself up about it and enjoy a glass or two of wine with Christmas dinner without feeling guilty!

You may have heard that there are a number of healthy antioxidants in red wine, but what you may not know is that it can also be good for your gut bacteria, and as we’ve discussed before, healthy gut bacteria are key to a healthy immune system.

Check out this article to learn more:

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr. 2012;95:1323-1334) reported that people who drank 2 glasses of red wine per day (dry red wine, not sugary dessert wines) had higher levels of beneficial bacteria in their gut and lower levels of pathogenic bad bacteria in their gut.  This is great news as you know from reading this newsletter how vastly important your gut flora balance is to everything from your digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin health, and much more.

The study concluded that while red wine consumption decreased pathogenic bacteria in the gut, it actually had a prebiotic effect in the gut in that it supported the growth and colonies of healthy gut microbes which protect your health.

But the powerful health benefits of red wine don’t stop there…

Another exciting part of this study is that the wine drinkers also decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and CRP (C-reactive protein).  CRP is a measure of overall inflammation in your body, so it’s great to see an association between red wine and reduced inflammation.

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You can choose Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz or any other dry red wine to get all of these powerful health benefits of the unique polyphenols and resveratrol.

Note that white wine also has some health benefits but not nearly as powerful as red wine due to the lower antioxidant levels.

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Check out the full article at http://holistichealthwire.com/red-wine-benefits…