Red wine does a body good—except for when it’s slowly killing you. For every study that touts the health benefits of red wine, there’s some buzzkill reminding us that booze is bad. The conflicting advice is so confusing it’s dizzying, which can leave you feeling sorta drunk.
For starters, you may have heard about red wine being “heart healthy.” That’s because the flavonoids in red wine are believed to lower “bad” cholesterol and raise “good” cholesterol, which is supposed to prevent blocked arteries. It’s has anticoagulant properties, which reduces blood clotting, but that only works while the wine is in your system, so in order to stave off a heart attack, you’d have to keep tossing ’em back. But then you’re placed at a risk of the long-term effects of excessive alcohol use, which, ironically, includes cardiovascular problems.
Drinking red wine can extend a person’s life, except for when it makes them die. The natural chemicals found in red wine are believed to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but then again, wine consumption is linked to dementia.
Resveratrol, the magic ingredient responsible for most of the health benefits of red wine (the magical aspects of which have been greatly exaggerated), is thought to slow the aging process. But most people recognize that heavy drinking eventually leaves you looking old and gross.
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