Wine myths
A daily glass of red wine is beneficial
“A daily glass of red wine is beneficial.”
Major health authorities do not recommend drinking alcohol for any benefit. The older observational research behind this belief is substantially confounded, and WineHQ publishes no claim in either direction.
The full answer
The belief traces to observational studies from the late twentieth century that found lower rates of certain outcomes among moderate drinkers than among abstainers.
Those comparisons are now understood to be substantially confounded. The abstainer group in many of them included people who had stopped drinking because they were already unwell — the "sick quitter" problem — and moderate drinkers differed systematically in income, diet and access to care.
Current guidance from major health authorities does not recommend alcohol consumption for any benefit, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies alcoholic beverages as a Group 1 carcinogen.
The resveratrol argument does not rescue it either. Resveratrol is genuinely present in red wine and genuinely interesting as chemistry; the quantities present in a glass are far below anything used in the studies the claim is drawn from.
WineHQ makes no health claims. It is a site about understanding wine. Anyone wanting to know what low-risk drinking means where they live should ask their national health service, which is the competent authority and is not us.
A question that is genuinely open. Saying so is more useful than the confident answer that would otherwise fill the space.
What would settle it: Research answering the question.
Sources
Sources consulted
- World Health Organization alcohol and health resources — World Health Organization
- IARC Monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks — alcohol — International Agency for Research on Cancer, WHO
- UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines — UK Department of Health and Social Care
- NHS — calculating alcohol units — National Health Service (UK)