Moderate wine consumption and weight management
Wine has always been an important part of diet, gastronomy and conviviality and has been changing from an important source of nutrition to a cultural complement to food over the years. As we know, a balanced diet is one of the key elements for a healthy lifestyle.
Recent years have seen a high increase in obesity problems. Alcoholic beverages provide “empty” calories and this is the main reason why they are eliminated from a weight-loss diet. Considering alcoholic beverages in general, there are some discrepancies with the results. It is currently unclear, whether the consumption of alcoholic beverages is a risk factor for weight gain because studies performed to date have found positive, negative, or no associations. At the same time, the scientific evidence shows that light-to-moderate wine intake may be more likely to protect against weight gain, or abdominal adiposity. Because wine does not only contain ethanol, but it is also rich in polyphenols. Wine is one of the main sources of polyphenols in Mediterranean diet. One hundred milliliters of wine may supply 200 mg of polyphenols. Polyphenol intake has been correlated with a decrease in body weight and waist circumference. A higher intake of foods rich in flavonols, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins, and flavonoid polymers that are present in red wine seems to contribute to weight maintenance in adulthood.