The Health Benefits of White Wine

Much has been written of the health benefits of red wine but there is very little mentioned of the benefits of white wine. Despite this studies show there are indeed health benefits to drinking white wine and indeeed whilst both types of wine bolster lung function, white wine appears to have the edge when it comes to lung health overall.

The Jordan Heart Research Foundation found that: “free radicals were reduced by 15% in red wine drinkers and 34% by white wine drinkers, while red wine drinkers experienced a reduction in the blood's clotting ability of 10% and white wine drinkers 20%.”

These results from the research of Dr Troup indicate that the antioxidant molecules in white wine are smaller, making them more effective because they can be more easily absorbed.

Another researcher  Holger J. Schunemann, M.D., Ph.D., of the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y. States "Many studies on wine and the heart have concluded that one to three glasses of wine per day may be beneficial, and this study suggests that an equivalent amount of wine may also help protect the lung,"

White wine contains flavonoids which antioxidant molecules that have antioxidant powers and act as free radical scavengers. They are also effective in suppressing inflammation. The white wines with the highest amounts of flavonoids are made from

Grenache blanc grapes in the Mediterranean regions of Spain, southern France, and Sardinia.

Is red wine really superior to white wine when it comes to health benefits?

Well strong arguments can be made for both sides. In the reds favour we have  Dr. Frankel's research that suggests red wine contains more antioxidants than white wine, although is dependent on the grape, region, and fermentation process. Then  Vinson

and Hontz at the University of Scantron showed that red wine had a higher phenol concentration, but the white wines had lower 1C50. In laymen’s terms it means white wines were better at preventing bad cholesterol from been absorbed.

Another study by Dr. Jung indicates that white wine can reduce systolic and diastolic blood pressure but red wine just reduced the diastolic.

“The Jordan Heart Research Foundation showed that although both red and white wine reduce free radicals and blood clotting, white wine had a significantly higher percentage of reduction.” In fact, white wine reduced free radicals by 34% as opposed to

15% in red wine and reduced blood clotting by 20% as opposed to 10% in red wine. Basically, white wine doubled the health benefits in red wine.

Our Conclusion:

I would conclude after studying some of the more recent studies, that some of varieties of European white wine can be just as beneficial as the much touted health benefits of reds.

Of course the health benefits only apply when either type of wine is drunk in moderation!