Drink to Your Health HOW RED WINE HELPS THE HEART Story by Liesel Schmidt | Featuring Sonoma Cellar
If you’re like millions of people around the world, you enjoy a glass of wine (or two) at the end of the day. If you reach for red over white, you’re hardly alone. In fact, you should congratulate yourself because—Yay!—you’re doing something healthy for yourself with that flavorful tipple. If fact, there are many studies that show just how good red wine is for you. So feel free to toddle off to the kitchen and grab yourself a bottle and a glass, then drink to your health. Sip on this: Red wine is made from crushed red or black grapes that are fermented over the course of weeks in oak barrels. Those grapes are the reason that wine is so healthful, packing it with tannins and antioxidants including resveratrol, epicatechin, catechin, and proanthocyanidins. Interestingly, resveratrol protects the blood vessels and prevents blood clots. It also helps regulate blood sugar and lower bad cholesterol (LDL) while increasing the good cholesterol (HDL), which means that red wine may help regulate blood pressure. Convinced yet? Here’s something else that may interest you. Red wine is known to have polyphenols, which help combat premature aging and aid in keeping the blood vessels flexible. That nice glass of red you’re sipping even contains high levels
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