Boost your gut health by drinking ‘thousands of types of wine’

Sampling a range of different grape varieties good for you, says expert

HAVING an eclectic taste in wine could boost your health, an expert has said.

Prof Tim Spector, of King’s College London, said drinkers should try “thousands” of different types to boost the immune system.

He also suggested drinking wine early on in a meal, as an aperitif to stop the drink disrupting sleep and damaging health.

Wine is known to be good for heart health, but Prof Spector said it was also beneficial for improving gut health and boosting healthy bacteria that live in the body.

It is high in polyphenols – natural defence chemicals present in many fruits and vegetables – with red wine containing a third more polyphenols than white.

The powerful antioxidants prevent cell damage, and studies have shown that a diet rich in the compounds can protect against cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.

One of the most important – resveratrol – is even being studied for its ability to slow down ageing.

Studies have shown that the fermentation process produces the helpful polyphenols.

Speaking on the Wine Blast podcast, Prof Spector said people should sample several varieties of wine to experience as many different polyphenols as possible.

“Drink wine, primarily for the pleasure, but at the back of your mind think, ‘Could I be trying different bottles or varieties that might actually be healthier for me and that I might enjoy?’” he said.

“Diversity is also important. If you take the analogy from food, having a range of different grape varieties in your diet means you are going to be helping different gut microbes inside you.

“Don’t just stick with the same wine, try hundreds or thousands of different grape varieties that we generally don’t enjoy. Let’s get those rare ones back on the map again because those could be helping you nourish really healthy gut microbes and improve your health.”

Although there are about 10,000 grape varieties, only a relative few are used in winemaking. The most common wine grapes include chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, pinot noir, sauvignon blanc, syrah and garnacha.

In 2019, King’s carried out a study with 916 female twins and found the gut microbiome of red wine drinkers was more diverse than non-red wine drinkers. No difference was found with white wine, beer or spirits.

The microbiome is the collection of microorganisms in an environment and plays an important role in health. A person’s gut microbiome with a higher number of different bacterial species is a marker of gut health.

However, Prof Spector advised drinkers to stop after half a bottle to get the maximum benefit.

“For people who drink half a bottle of wine or more, it has a negative impact. The window seemed to be between one or two glasses of red wine. [It] makes sense because we don’t think it’s the alcohol per se that’s helpful, we know that’s toxic for the body and if you give alcohol to gut microbes they don’t like it, they only like the byproduct.”