Non-Alcoholic Red Wine: Proved Benefits
A glass of red wine a day can help prevent heart attacks. The combination of alcohol and phenols in red wine maintains the elasticity of blood vessels, scientists say. This is exactly what wine lovers are delighted to hear. But what about non-alcoholic red wine? In 2012, researchers at the University of Barcelona discovered what happens to the beneficial cardiovascular effects of red wine when alcohol is removed from it. Eager to know what happened to its benefits? Read on!
Market Overview
The vogue for a conscious attitude to one’s health and healthy lifestyle trends increase public interest in non-alcoholic “alcohol”. According to various sources, the global market for non-alcoholic wines will grow 7% each year to reach $10 billion by 2027.
Today, most non-alcoholic wine is drunk in Europe, and the American market represents the greatest potential for growth in the coming years.
Non-Alcoholic Red Wine: What is It?
Non-alcoholic wine has recently appeared on store shelves, although this drink was created more than a hundred years ago. Scientist Carl Jung received a patent for his invention in 1908, but at that time it did not bring the doctor either fame or fortune. Over the years, the worldview of people has changed, and now the practical benefits of such a discovery are clearly outlined.
First of all, non-alcoholic wine was appreciated by drivers, because it can be drunk while driving without risk to life.
When a person consumes such a drink, they retain the feeling that they are really drinking wine and not sour juice. There is practically no alcohol in non-alcoholic wine: it remains about 0.5% – no more than in freshly squeezed orange juice.
How is It Made?
Non-alcoholic wine is not born that way. First, wine is made according to classical technology, and then wine alcohol is removed from it. In most cases, using simple heating. But some manufacturers, in an attempt to preserve not only useful but also consumer properties of the drink, use more sophisticated technologies: much more gentle distillation with water vapor and “reverse osmosis” – high-tech filtration based on different sizes of water and alcohol molecules, in which the wine is not heated at all.
Non-Alcoholic Red Wine Benefits
Turning back to the experiment in our intro, scientists had 76 men aged 55-75 with type 2 diabetes, who in the first case drank 3 small glasses of red wine daily for 4 weeks. As a result, they received a total of 30 grams of alcohol. On another occasion, men drank the same amount of non-alcoholic red wine daily for 4 weeks. For the third time, the participants in the experiment drank three glasses of gin every day. Gin delivered as much alcohol as red wine but did not contain phenolic compounds.
Red wine lowers blood pressure – scientists confirmed
Standard red wine lowered blood pressure by 1-2 points, while red wine without alcohol by 2-5 points. Gin had little effect on blood pressure; red wine increased blood vasodilating nitric oxide (NO) concentrations by 0.6 μmol per liter. The effect of red wine without alcohol on nitric oxide concentration was significantly greater. Gin had no effect on nitric oxide.
Conclusions
Non-alcoholic red wine lowers blood pressure more effectively than red wine with alcohol. Transgenic alcohol undermines the health benefits of phenols in red wine.
“Red wine with dealcoholization lowers systolic and diastolic blood pressure through a NO-mediated mechanism,” the scientists write.
“Drinking de-alcoholized red wine every day can be beneficial in preventing low to moderate hypertension. Although the decrease in blood pressure after drinking non-alcoholic red wine was insignificant (5.8 and 2.3 mm Hg systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, respectively), a decrease of 4 or 2 mm Hg. Art. SBP or DBP, respectively, are associated with a 14% and 20% reduction in the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke.“
So, is Non-Alcoholic Red Wine Useful or Not?
Non-alcoholic wine retains all the nutrients of a traditional drink. It contains all the same antioxidants and polyphenols that:
- protect the body from atherosclerosis,
- protect cells from premature aging,
- lower cholesterol levels.
In addition, dry non-alcoholic wine contains practically no sugar, so it can undoubtedly be consumed by people who suffer from diabetes. Just see the content of trace elements:
- magnesium,
- potassium,
- copper,
- calcium,
- iron,
- vitamins and mineral acids.
Due to such a variety, non-alcoholic wine becomes a useful drink that has a beneficial effect on the body as a whole.
For women, it can be important that a glass of non-alcoholic wine contains half the calories compared to a regular one.
This wine is recommended for diseases associated with decreased secretion of gastric juice since the tartaric and malic acids contained in the drink help to digest heavy food more easily.
Drinking alcohol-free wine is not contraindicated for heart, liver, and kidney problems. Moreover, as already mentioned, it benefits blood vessels (mostly red), lowers blood pressure and, due to the action of polyphenols, significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and the development of strokes (up to 20%).
Non-Alcoholic vs Alcoholic Wine
In general, you will benefit no less from non-alcoholic wine than from full-fledged alcoholic wine. However, it will not work to put an equal sign between them: together with alcohol, a significant part of the bouquet is removed from the wine, and the ability to give it (the bouquet) as a flavor.
Despite the improvement of technologies, it is not possible to preserve the original taste of wine after removing the alcohol. Ethanol molecules act as a booster for aroma, flavor, and richness. Therefore, after they disappear, the drink only resembles wine: it can be quite pleasant to the taste, but in most cases, it becomes a pale copy of the original.
This is especially true for red wines, which, along with ethanol, also lose some of the tannins. In order to avoid disappointment, it is better to treat non-alcoholic wine as an independent drink, which can become an interesting alternative to ordinary wine in situations where it is impossible to drink the latter for one reason or another.
But sometimes you have to compromise… Right?
See more topics:
- Alcohol When Dieting. What Are Alcohol Effects on Diet
- Magic Calories or Ice Cream Diet Helps to Lose Weight
- Hookah: Health, Harm, and Safety
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