Red Wine
Food · Drink · Food, Typed Supps
The heart-health story was real research. It did not survive better methods.
Stage by stage
- Absorption (Stomach and small intestine): Ethanol is absorbed as from any alcoholic drink, faster on an empty stomach.
- Priority clearance (Liver): The liver clears alcohol ahead of other fuels; this dominates the metabolic picture.
- Polyphenols (Circulation): Skin-contact fermentation gives red wine genuine polyphenol content, resveratrol included.
- Dose reality (Systemic): Those resveratrol amounts sit far below anything shown to act in the laboratory work.
Timing
Food slows absorption. Wine near bedtime shortens sleep onset while measurably degrading the second half of the night.
Time to effect
- 15–30 min: Subjective effects begin.
- Years: Alcohol-associated cancer risk accrues with cumulative intake, with no established threshold.
Allergens
Contains: Sulphites. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Pescatarian, Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Vegan, Vegetarian, Kosher, Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
Not scored: the satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings, and nobody eats a 240 kcal serving of this. The question does not apply rather than the answer being unknown.
Environmental footprint
1.8 kg CO2e and 108 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Wine" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Pricey — roughly £12 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 80
- Protein: 0.2g
- Carbohydrate: 0.2g
- of which sugars: 0.2g
- Sodium: 5mg
Food vs. supplement
Resveratrol supplement trials have largely failed to reproduce the preclinical promise — the compound did not turn out to be the mechanism the story needed.
Kitchen tip
If the appeal is the polyphenols, berries, olive oil, tea and high-cocoa chocolate deliver them without the ethanol.
Common myth
“A glass of red wine a day is good for your heart.” In reality: That came from observational studies whose non-drinking comparison group included people who had stopped because they were already ill — which made moderate drinkers look protected. Genetic (Mendelian randomisation) studies, which avoid that bias, find no cardioprotective effect, and Australian guidance dropped the implication of a beneficial level in 2020.
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