A Toast to White Wine’s Health Benefits

Now that we’ve wrapped up January, how did we all do? Still riding the Health Warrior Resolution Train?

Over the past 30 days we’ve shone a bit of a spotlight on how wine can be a positive benefit to balanced and healthy lifestyles. The keyword being “balanced,” of course.

When it comes to the benefits of wine, we seem to focus on red. And why wouldn’t we? Red’s a virtual health superstar, with seemingly no limit to what it can do: from preventing cancer to fighting the battle of the bulge, la vino rouge is the belle of the healthy swill ball.

But what about red’s poor cousin, white? So many of you have connected with us over Twitter, Facebook and email to ask what’s a white wine drinker to do, that we revved up our computers to hunt down the best information available on the internet today.

You know what? It turns out there’s hope for us white winos, after all.

Heart Health

Yep. It turns out white can do just as much for your ticker as red.  A recent study suggests the antioxidants found in white wine, are similar to those found in olive oil, which can boost heart function and prevent blocked arteries.

Better Lung Function

A 2012 study by the University of Buffalo, suggests wine consumption may improve lung health – especially white wine. While scientists credit the antioxidants like phenols and flavanoids present in both red and white, their research shows a stronger relationship between wine wine and robust lungs.

Protection Against Breast Cancer

While it’s been well documented that red can help lower your risk of some cancers, it looks like white is equally beneficial in protecting cells against breast cancer.

HDL Booster & Blood Clot Buster

It looks like it’s not so much the antioxidants in red wine that raises your “good” cholesterol, but the alcohol itself.  In fact, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine say that any type of booze can help reduce the risk of a heart attack. While that’s not exactly a ringing endorsement for white wine, the study notes when it comes to cholesterol and blood clots, red doesn’t necessarily have the upper hand on white, so if you prefer your wine pale, know that you’re still getting healthy benefits.

Migraine Reliever

Migraine sufferers often avoid red wine out of fear it prompts their severe headaches. It’s still unclear what the culprit is for these triggers, but red wine does contain more histamines than white, which may be a reason people fall ill after consuming a glass.  White doesn’t seem to have the same negative affects.

Waist Whittler

We’ve talked quite a bit about how moderate consumption of wine may help keep you thin, but if you are really nickel-and-diming your calorie intake, you will do better opting for dry white wines.

So what is the better wine to boost your health? In the end the jury’s still out. Many articles we read suggested red and whites are equally powerful combatants to health woes, though we did find far less information on white wine’s benefits than we did on red, which may be telling. Additionally, most researchers say don’t look for your cure at the bottom of the bottle – for best health results consume a moderate one glass a day for women and two glasses a day for men.

Which brings us to our next point …

Disclaimer: We’re not medical professionals! We feel like we’ve established this already, but to keep our lawyer calm we’ll repeat it again. If you’re worried about your health or your drinking, seek professional advice. Unless you’re worried you’re not drinking enough, then call us. We can help with that.