Red wine-the perfect drink

Nutritionists and physicians are careful about recommending alcoholic beverages, but agree red wine is good for you in small doses. Research suggests antioxidants in red wine, called polyphenols, help protect the lining of blood vessels in your heart. These antioxidants come in two main forms: flavonoids and nonflavonoids. Flavonoids are found in foods such as oranges, apples, onions, tea, cocoa and grape juice, as well as other alcoholic drinks like beer and white wine, but red wine contains the highest levels.

Resveratrol, a nonflavonoid antioxidant, is a key ingredient in red wine that appears to help prevent damage to blood vessels, reduce bad (LDL) cholesterol and prevent blood clots.

Some research shows that resveratrol may reduce inflammation and blood clotting, both of which can lead to heart disease. More research is needed before it's known whether resveratrol causes these effects. If you choose to drink wine for your health, Tallmadge says stick to red, because research has shown red grapes have 10 times more health benefit than white grapes.

"It's really important that you moderate how much you drink, because the risk might outweigh the benefit," Shields says.
"It seems all the benefits, like resveratrol, are in the seeds and the skin," Tallmadge says, "So when they crush the red grapes, the benefits stay in the wine."

But Georgetown's Shields says that any alcohol, including wine, has also been found to increase the risk of breast cancer. "Some studies have shown an increase risk of 14 percent with each gram of wine you drink on a daily basis," he says.

And a recently published study found that drinking even moderate amounts of alcohol raises the risk of a breast cancer recurrence.