Researchers Wonder If Alcohol or Wine Is Good for Your Heart

Let’s get one thing straight from the get-go. We are not advocating drinking alcohol if you are a teetotaler. What we are trying to do is make sense out of conflicting headlines. Over the last few years, there have been crazy-making research reports about both the benefits and risks of moderate alcohol consumption. Some articles state unequivocally that alcohol is bad for your health, full stop! Others say alcohol improves longevity. Recently, dueling headlines make it very unclear if you should never drink any or if a little wine is good for you. Let’s take a look at the data.

Will Drinking Alcohol Kill You or Help You Live Longer?

Will drinking alcohol increase or decrease your lifespan? It’s hardly any wonder that people are completely confused by this question. In the last several months there have been headlines reporting completely contradictory conclusions.

A headline in the New York Times two years ago was alarming: “Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health.” The writer acknowledged that research has been conflicting. She cited an article published in JAMA Network Open (Nov. 1, 2022) demonstrating that one death in eight among American adults under 65 is due to excessive alcohol use. Alcoholic liver disease, motor vehicle crashes and other poisonings accounted for the majority of these.

The French Paradox:

What ever happened to the “French paradox” of the 1980s? Epidemiologists noted that French people died of heart disease far less often than residents of other countries, despite the popularity of high-fat foods like Brie, croissants or foie gras. What could account for that?

In 1992, a couple of scientists offered, as a hypothesis, a protective effect of wine (Lancet, June 20, 1992). They suggested that wine inhibits platelets, which stick together to form blood clots. Moderate wine consumption, then, might act to prevent clots that lead to heart attacks.

The J-Shaped Curve Showed Wine Is Good:

Even before the French paradox was suggested, some data suggested that moderate wine consumption might be beneficial. When I was in graduate school over 50 years ago I was taught about the J-shaped curve. The professor of pharmacology who was giving that lecture drew a giant J on the blackboard. He used red wine for his drug demonstration.

On the vertical axis he listed mortality. On the horizontal axis he listed “dose” of wine. He compared the left side of the J to the bottom and the top of the right side of the J. The people who drank no alcohol were on the far left side. They had a higher death rate than those at the bottom of the J. Moderate wine drinkers lived the longest. As the amount of wine increased, so did the mortality rate. Those at the high right side of the J had the worst mortality stats.

The conclusion was that some wine is good for longevity. Too much hastened death. No wine at all was “riskier” than a little. Not surprisingly, my grad-student colleagues were quite impressed by this demonstration of the J-shaped curve. But how well has the analysis held up?

More Confusion Over Alcohol:

In the decades since then, researchers have been arguing that even moderate alcohol use is dangerous. The CDC states, “compared to not drinking, drinking alcohol in moderation may increase your overall risks of death and chronic disease.”

Wine Is Good in a Mediterranean Diet:

Now, two new reports suggest that moderate alcohol consumption may indeed offer some health benefits. The PREDIMED trial has been examining the Mediterranean diet and its relationship to heart disease. These scientists just published a new report assessing “wine consumption and cardiovascular risk” (European Heart Journal, Dec. 18, 2024).

Rather than rely upon self reports of wine consumption, the researchers measured tartaric acid in the urine. This substance is a sensitive indicator and “objective biomarker of wine consumption.”

The authors conclude that light to moderate wine consumption was associated with lower risk for cardiovascular disease in this Spanish population. It looked just like that J-shaped curve. That is to say, people who did not drink much, if any, wine and those who consumed a lot of wine were both at higher risk for cardiovascular disease than those with moderate intake. This is a pattern that has been showing up for decades.

Moderate Drinkers Have Less Heart Disease:

Independently, investigators with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine have just released a preliminary report titled: Review of Evidence on Alcohol and Health 2025.  It suggests that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease. “Moderate” drinking is defined as not more than two drinks a day for men or one a day for women.
The committee that reached this conclusion reviewed available research over the past 15 years. In particular, the scientists analyzed data for weight, cancer, cognition, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality. There was a signal that women who consume alcohol, even in moderate amounts, are at somewhat higher risk for breast cancer.

The conclusions of this prestigious organization will undoubtedly annoy many people. There are numerous health professionals who insist that any alcohol is bad for you. Still, it may be difficult to ignore growing evidence from both sides of the Atlantic. One thing is clear: moderation is key to any benefit.

The Downsides of Drinking:

If all the data pointed in just one direction, we doubt there would be nearly so much confusion. Along with the PREDIMED and NASEM reports, Americans have just heard from the Surgeon General that consuming alcohol increases the risk for several cancers. Researchers have long warned that women who drink are at higher risk for breast cancer. (The New York Times cites a lifetime risk of 11% rising to 13% at one drink a day and 15% at two.) Adding to that, Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that people who take as little as one drink a day, or sometimes less, are boosting their risk for cancers of the throat and mouth.

Al Jazeera quoted Dr. Murthy as saying:

“As you consider whether or how much to drink, keep in mind that less is better when it comes to cancer risk.”

Confusing Headlines: Wine Is Good…or Bad?

To read about past alcohol research you may wish to click on this link. It is our review of confusing and contradictory alcohol studies.

One study was published in the journal Nutrients (June 17, 2023). The title is:

“Association between Wine Consumption with Cardiovascular Disease and Cardiovascular Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis”

The authors explained their goals:

“The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was: (i) to examine the association between wine consumption and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and coronary heart disease (CHD) and (ii) to analyse whether this association could be influenced by personal and study factors, including the participants’ mean age, the percentage of female subjects, follow-up time and percentage of current smokers.”

In introducing their research, these investigators pointed out that heavy drinking is linked to millions of deaths each year and contributes to over 200 diseases. That reinforces the top of the J described above.

They also noted that:

“Light to moderate alcohol use also lowers the prevalence of ischemic heart disease and improves the prognosis of people at risk of additional coronary events that could result in myocardial infarction [heart attack].”

How Did They Determine If Wine Is Good?

 These investigators go on to point out that not all alcoholic beverages are created equal:

“It seems that all alcohol does not have the same effect. There is controversy in the existing evidence as to which beverage could be less harmful to CVD [cardiovascular disease]; nevertheless, if stratifying by alcoholic beverage intake, a positive effect has been observed between wine and nonfatal CHD [coronary heart disease], whereas drinking beer is linked to a higher risk of a non-fatal stroke. According to this evidence, several of the components in wine, including but not limited to water, carbohydrates, organic acids, minerals, alcohol, and aromatic substances, may be beneficial to health.”

What They Found:

According to the analysis of data from 25 studies, people who drink wine are less likely to experience cardiovascular disease, heart disease or death due to cardiovascular disease. The relationship appeared to be strongest with red wine, which contains antioxidant polyphenols.

The authors concluded:

“There are current dietary recommendations that include wine consumption, as in the case of the Mediterranean diet. Given the findings of this meta-analysis, it would be interesting to suggest drinking wine as part of other dietary recommendations. Future research is needed to differentiate these effects by the type of wine.”

 A Word of Caution:

Remember, too much alcohol in any form is bad! People often drink more than they think. The sweet spot is probably somewhere between 1 to 7 drinks a week! That is referred to as “light” drinking. And please keep in mind that alcohol can interact with many medications to cause more problems.

If you do not drink, do not start! No one should begin drinking based on this kind of research. If you have a glass of wine with dinner, the way many people in Italy or France do, that may be good for your heart. More than that, though, could be detrimental, especially as people age.

I think the jury is still out on the benefits and risks of other alcoholic beverages. Judging from our review of the pros and cons of alcohol at this link, there remain unanswered questions about the overall benefits of ethanol.

A glass of red wine, on the other hand, supplies lots of interesting polyphenolic compounds, including resveratrol. It has anti-inflammatory activity and is a powerful antioxidant. Resveratrol can also relax blood vessels and reduce platelet aggregation. That means it has anti-clotting action. It also prevents the oxidation of so-called bad LDL cholesterol.

The People’s Pharmacy Perspective on Whether Wine is Good:

We have been tracking the research on wine for decades. We think that a little wine is good for the cardiovascular system. Emphasis is on the word little. We believe that a glass of red wine with dinner is likely better than a glass of vodka on an empty stomach!

We suspect you have heard the message…”moderation in all things.” When it comes to wine, or other alcoholic beverages, that is especially true.

What do you think? Please share your perspective on wine in the comment section below.