It wasn’t so long ago that we were told a glass of red wine a day is more than enjoyable but an aid to our health as well. It was said that a single glass of red could help lower cholesterol, reduce cravings helping you keep weight down, potentially prevent certain cancers as well as being a source of dietary fibre.
However as it instinctively makes sense, a glass a day of our favourite velvety red tipple is not actually beneficial to our health and it should – along with all its counterparts, be kept to a minimum. Yes, very sad news indeed!
The Sun (UK) reported on a study conducted by Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies earlier this month. The study reportedly stated the contrary to popular thought and that red wine cannot actually reduce the risk of cancer, memory loss and heart disease when drunk moderately.
Let’s be honest, we all thought we were sticking within healthy guidelines with those mid-week one or two glasses.
Red wine has now been lumped back into the general alcohol health hazard and put simply small amounts of alcohol consumption is not beneficial to our health. Just a single glass of wine a day was said to potentially increase a woman’s chance of breast cancer by up to 13%.
The Telegraph also stated that with the release of the new guidelines, that gender differences in recommended alcohol consumption would fall away as it is not bias toward gender when it comes to health.
No doubt another study will be released in time to come with a new theory relating to wine and other alcohol consumption. With South Africa being named the biggest drinkers in Africa two years ago it’s a good idea to be clued up with the ‘healthy’ amount of alcoholic intake which is as little as one drink per day.
It’s hard to keep up with the changing opinions and studies, and us as South African’s do love our wine farms and glasses of vino far too much to quit the juice entirely.
The bottom line is that red wine won’t add to your health so we need to keep the intake to a moderate level.