Drinking Red Wine Stems Heart Disease, But Tea Protects You Always: When To Give Your Liver A Break
This one’s going to hurt a little, wine drinkers: A glass of white or red vino with dinner only cuts risk for cardiovascular disease if you’re regularly exercising, too.
The study, presented at this year’s European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona (ESC), is the first long-term, clinical trial to observe the effects of drinking wine. Over 100 people with mild to moderate risk for cardiovascular disease participated. Participants either consumed Chardonnay or Pinot Noir — 0.2 liters for women and 0.3 for men per the World Health Organization’s recommendation — up to five times a week over the course of a year.
They maintained their regular diet and kept a log of additional alcoholic beverages, medications, and their amount and type of exercise. And the researchers found wine consumption didn’t impact levels of HDL, or good, cholesterol. LDL cholesterol — the bad kind — was lower at the end of one year with even lower levels in those who drank red wine. The thing is these drinkers also regularly worked out.
"The only positive and continuous result was in the subgroup of patients who took more exercise, which means regular exercise at least twice a week, plus the wine consumption,” Milos Taborsky, lead study author and professor from the Czech Republic, said in a press release. “There may be some synergy between the low dose of ethyl alcohol in wine and exercise, which is protective against CVD."
Polyphenols, an ingredient in wine, are antioxidants that protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart. With regard to red wine, there's also resveratrol that further protects those same blood vessels and has been found to reduce risk for inflammation and blood clotting.
But as heart-healthy as wine is, it’s still alcohol. Drinking too much of it risks liver damage. So it’s a good thing a separate study also presented at ESC Congress found tea to be a worthy substitute. In fact, as Medical Daily previously reported, it cuts risk for cardiovascular-related death by 24 percent compared to those who drank coffee. Not to mention its added benefits for weight loss.
Though ultimately how beneficial a drink is comes down to your lifestyle. The benefits of red wine weren’t as great when not making a point to work out, and a separate study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found black tea stabilizes blood pressure also had participants on a low-flavonoid diet. That means participants were not allowed additional tea, red wine, even dark chocolate.
If you really want to get down to it, both wine and tea didn't even crack the top 100 of the richest sources of heart-healthy polyphenols, as found by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Instead, those spots go to seasonings, like cloves and Mexican oregano, and cocoa products (powder and chocolate).
The bottom line: Red wine and tea help your heart, but tea does so without potential for added health risks. Pinkies up!
Source: Taborsky M, Ostadal P, Petrek M. A pilot randomized trial comparing long-term effects of red and white wines on biomarkers of atherosclerosis (in vino veritas: IVV trial). European Society Of Cardiology Congress. 2014.