Glass of red wine could actually be good for gut health

PanARMENIAN.Net - Good news, red wine lovers: An occasional glass of the beloved beverage could be good for your gut health, a study published this week found, according to Fox news.

The study, published Wednesday in the journal Gastroenterology and led by researchers with King’s College London, found that red wine drinkers had “increased gut microbiota diversity” — a sign of gut health — compared to those who opted for white wine, beer or spirits instead.

To come to this conclusion, researchers “explored the effect of beer, cider, red wine, white wine, and spirits on the gut microbiome (GM) and subsequent health in a group of 916 UK female twins,” according to a news release on the findings from King’s College London. They also studied other groups in the U.S. and the Netherlands.

During the study, researchers accounted for age, weight, diet and socioeconomic status for all participants, but noted they found the same results across the board.

Microbiome, according to researchers, “is the collection of microorganisms in an environment and plays an important role in human health.”

“An imbalance of ‘good’ microbes compared to ‘bad’ in the gut can lead to adverse health outcomes such as reduced immune system, weight gain or high cholesterol. A person’s gut microbiome with a higher number of different bacterial species is considered a marker of gut health,” they explained.

The “good” microbes associated with drinking red wine may be due to the so-called “polyphenols” found in red wine.