Chin Up: Is wine healthy or harmful?
So are we supposed to be drinking wine or not?
On the one hand, so many nutritionists, fans of clean eating, doctors and insurance companies sure do like it when we don’t.
On the other hand, one ingredient in wine is thought to be good for our heart and overall health, we are told again and again, usually by someone holding a glass of red wine.
A running event recently sent out an email promoting FitVine, touting, “Clean, great tasting wine with zero residual sugar, chemicals, additives, and 85% less sulfites & 500% more antioxidants.” And Scientific American recently touched on the topic, saying: “resveratrol, the wine ingredient, is thought to rev up one of the sirtuins, SIRT1, which appears to help protect mice on high doses of resveratrol from the ill effects of high-fat diets.”
Kelly Drew, a registered dietitian for the last seven years at the Princeton Club gym in New Berlin, is here to help. She’s not trying to take our glass of Napa Valley sunshine away from us. She’s just explaining what happens when we drink.
Q: I went to one of your nutritional seminars and you mentioned that alcohol is a toxin, so the body metabolizes it first. When we eat a meal and have a drink, our body is going to metabolize the alcohol first.
Drew: The body, the liver, recognizes alcohol as a toxin. When you take in the alcohol, it kind of puts the other processes on the back burner. That alcohol takes precedence. It’s rapidly absorbed, it goes into the bloodstream, it hits that liver and the liver is like, “OK, got to take care of that immediately.”
Q: When you are trying to lose weight, not maintain, how does alcohol factor into dieting?
Drew: Most dietitians aren’t going to recommend alcohol. It’s one of the first things they’ll look at as they’re tweaking somebody’s meal plan or food journals. Usually, I recommend cutting down. I understand it’s part of people’s lifestyles, it’s something they enjoy, winding down at the end of the night, or going out on weekends, that’s part of their social life. It really depends on your goals. If you’re looking to lose just a little bit of weight and you can cut down, great. If you’re really looking to build muscle mass, then you have to re-evaluate how alcohol fits in to your lifestyle.
Q: I figured if you’re cutting back on calories, a glass of wine is a pretty good deal compared to a high-calorie piece of cake or a sugar-packed soda. Wine seems like a good treat for a dieter, a bargain.
Drew: Wine is approximately 120 calories a serving. That’s a chunk if you’re only on 1,400 calories a day. The other issue is when you’re on a calorie restriction, you want to make sure all your calories count because you don’t want to run into problems with nutrient deficiencies. If you’re not getting your fiber intake for the day, your antioxidants from enough fruits and vegetables, if alcohol is taking the place of some of some of those foods — that can be a concern. If you’re on a 2,200 calorie diet and you have a beer here or there, that could probably fit in.
Q: I’ve had professional athletes tell me they won’t drink during their season, especially not while in training camp when they know their bodies will be stressed. They think alcohol could compromise their recovery and their gains. Can you explain that?
Drew: One of the main goals of being physically fit is to gain muscle mass, lean body mass. It dictates your metabolism. If you’re in sports, you want strength and endurance. Alcohol intake can prohibit protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is what you want to build up muscles. Even if you’re someone who comes to the gym and wants to be physically fit, or toned, if you’re working out and putting in your strength training and breaking down those muscles to build them back up — that protein synthesis is hindered from alcohol.
There was one study that said endotoxins — harmful toxins that are released when the gut cells deteriorate when we drink alcohol — can remain in the bloodstream for up to 24 hours. It causes an immune response causing the body to use nutrients from muscles. If you’re an athlete, and you want your muscles up to snuff, and you’re drinking, those endotoxins are sucking out nutrients from your muscles. You do not want that. You’ll also have more muscle fatigue.
Q: I see that. It happens every boot camp Sunday morning. Some poor person is just dying during class, sweating more, groaning in pain, because they went out the night before and drank.
Drew: It could also be increased lactic acid production from alcohol consumption makes your fatigue worse. It also messes with your blood-sugar levels.
What’s also interesting too is there’s all these runs out there, Tough Mudder, others.
Q: You get a beer at the finish line!
Drew: When you do an activity, your body brings your blood sugars down. That’s a natural response. After your activity, your body works hard to get your blood sugars back up to a safe level. When you drink alcohol, that gets hindered.
Q: So after a 12-mile, 25- obstacle Tough Mudder, you probably should have a banana and some protein? And not just a beer …?
Drew: Yes. The snacks that they hand out. Again, I’m not trying to take the post-race beer away from people who really enjoy that part of the race ritual. It depends on what your goals are, or if you’re feeling crummy. You may want to reassess: Do I want that?
Q: I really appreciate all of this. But I am so confused. We see these articles. All the time: Have a glass or two of wine a day. It’s good for you. When I think of one to two glasses a day, I think addiction. I don’t think health. I know everybody is different but what’s your opinion?
Drew: There’s a lot of research that looks promising but a lot of it is inconclusive. I think the media picks up on these short-term, small-scale studies, and they go with it. But there are some things that look good for cardiovascular disease prevention with red wine.
There’s a phenol in wine called resveratrol, it’s an anti-oxidant that’s found in the skins of grapes. But there’s also food you can find resveratrol in: cranberries, blueberries, peanuts. Whole grapes, obviously. Again, it’s inconclusive that resveratrol is as beneficial as headlines would lead us to believe; we don’t quite know its function yet.
Currently, the American Heart Association recommends that if you are not a regular drinker that you don’t start. And they recommend a limit of one drink a day for women and two for men. When I say recommend, it’s not, “You should have that.” It’s, “Cap it off at that.” You shouldn’t be having more than that.
Q: One to two a day. What are the portion sizes? Drew: Five ounces for wine … Q: Five! That’s nothing. That’s Communion at church!
Drew: … 12 ounces for beer. Hard liquor is a 1.5-ounce shot.