Red wine does not lower blood pressure. He lifts it
Polyphenols from red wine really lower the pressure. The problem is that alcohol from the same glass does the opposite, and works harder.
A glass of red wine does not lower blood pressure. It raises it, and it has been measured repeatedly and on large samples. The sentence that has been repeated around the dinner table for thirty years — that red wine is good for pressure — is one of the best-documented fallacies in nutrition, and it arose from a misinterpreted comparison in the 1990s.
What exactly does the measurement say
A genetic study of about half a million adults, published inLancetIn 2019, based on data from the Chinese cohort, she showed that every280 grams of alcohol per weekraises systolic pressure by approx4 mmHg. A meta-analysis of clinical trials published in a journalHypertension. 2023 gives the same direction and a more precise measure:12 grams of alcohol per day— that's one smaller glass of wine — raises the systolic eye1.25 mmHg, and 48 grams per day for almost5 mmHg. The relationship is linear. There is no point below which alcohol starts to help.
It is interesting where the good reputation of wine hides. In a paper published inCirculation ResearchIn 2012, in men with elevated cardiovascular risk, three regimens were compared: red wine, the same wine with alcohol removed, and gin.Dealcoholized red wine lowered systolic pressure by about 5.8 mmHgin four weeks. The same wine with alcohol did not give a measurable effect.
The point is uncomfortably clear:polyphenols work, alcohol cancels them. There are both in the glass.
Resveratrol and the calculation that no one does
Resveratrol is the compound from the grape skin around which the whole story is built. There is it in red wine0.2 to 6 mg per litre, mostly in Pinot and in wines with long maceration. Doses that have produced spectacular results in laboratory studies on rodents correspond, on a human basis, tohundreds of litres of wine a day.
If you want to know where polyphenols really are the most abundant, the answer is not in alcohol but in contact with the skin — the same mechanism we described inamber wine and maceration of white grapes. Thick skin and strong tannin varieties, among themVranac and Kratoshija, they wear them more than thin ones. This is a reason to choose them for taste and structure, but not a reason to drink them as therapy.
A genetic study of about half a million adults, published in Lancet In 2019, based on data from the Chinese cohort, she showed that every 280 grams of alcohol per week raises systolic pressure by approx 4 mmHg .
Where is moderation then?
The standard alcohol unit is10 grams of pure alcohol- which is true.100 ml of 12.5 percent wine. The glass you pour in the restaurant is usually 150 to 200 ml, so one and a half to two units. The usual recommendation of a maximum of two units per day for men and one for women means, translated to the table:one restaurant glass, not two and not three.
Two things that are often missed. First: units are not saved. Five days of abstinence and six drinks on Saturday is a worse scenario for blood pressure than one drink every day. The acute effect, by the way, is the opposite of what was expected: in the first six to twelve hours, alcohol lowers blood pressure, and raises it only after about thirteen hours — hence the Saturday morning with the measurement that no one likes. Second: if you are already taking blood pressure therapy, alcohol increases the effect of most drugs of that group and lowers blood pressure too quickly when standing up. It is a conversation with a doctor, not a sommelier, and this text does not replace it.
A practical solution for people who love ritual and do not want figures: the wine stays with the meal, but the working evening and the days after the effort go to something else. Bitter bitters and citrus infusions fromnon-alcoholic aperitifgive the same bitterness and the same ceremony without a single gram of alcohol. Deal-chocolate red wines, by the way, today work exactly according to the logic of that study — they leave polyphenol, they tend to cancel it out.
Wine is a pleasure and worth defending as a pleasure. Just don't ask him for a medical excuse that doesn't exist.
Questions & answers
short and to the point- Does red wine lower blood pressure?
- No. Measurements show that alcohol linearly raises systolic pressure — about 1.25 mmHg per 12 g per day. Polyphenols in wine lower blood pressure, but only when the alcohol is removed.
- How much resveratrol is in a glass of red wine?
- Between 0.2 and 6 mg per litre, so about 0.03 to 0.9 mg in a 150 ml glass. The doses that gave the effect in laboratory studies correspond to hundreds of liters of wine per day.
- How moderate is the amount of wine per day?
- One standard unit is 100 ml of 12.5 percent wine. The recommendation is a maximum of two units per day for men and one for women, which is one restaurant glass.
