In vino sanitas – Calories, vitamins and nutrients in wine
First of all: wine is not a food in the classic sense and certainly not a staple food. But, as with everything in life, wine can have a healthy effect when consumed in moderation. Even during a diet.
Otherwise, wine contains nutrients such as vitamin B6, folic acid and tannins as important and health-promoting ingredients. While red vine leaves can alleviate venous disorders, grape seeds contain antioxidants, also known as cell-protecting polyphenols. Grapes also contain vitamin B3 (niacin, nicotinic acid and niacin equivalent) and vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), as well as significantly smaller amounts of vitamins A (beta carotene), B2 (riboflavin), B7 (biotin) and B9. The list of minerals it contains includes potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulphur and chloride, as well as trace elements such as iron, zinc, copper, manganese, fluoride and iodide in the μg range.
In terms of nutrients, red wine is considered to be healthier than white wine. This is mainly due to the fact that the skins and seeds are also fermented during red wine fermentation, which means that more useful plant substances and minerals are added to the wine than in white wine. Research has shown that two glasses of red wine before going to bed can help you lose weight. If you want to know exactly: we owe this effect to the appetite-suppressing properties of the polyphenol resveratrol, which comes from the grape skins. And that’s not all: it has also been scientifically proven that a good quality red wine can actually reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is because the consumption of red wine significantly increases the level of good HDL (cholesterol).
Nevertheless, and this brings us full circle, wine is and remains an alcoholic beverage that should be consumed with care and in moderation if you want to enjoy it in good health even in old age.
In vino sanitas – there is health in wine – is a saying from Alkaios of Lesbos, a famous Greek poet who lived in ancient times. The beneficial effects of wine were also recorded in other memorable quotations. “Wine,” enthused Plutarch (45 to 125 AD), “is the most useful of beverages, the tastiest of medicines and the most pleasant of foods.”
And so it is hardly surprising that, according to ancient excavations, Sumerian doctors were already prescribing wine-based preparations more than 4,200 years ago. Neither the ancient Egyptians, Greeks nor Romans were inferior to them, and the famous Hildegard von Bingen also used wine not only for various illnesses but also to treat wounds. In the 18th and 19th centuries, wine cures were even prescribed in neighboring Germany. If this brings a smile to your face, you will hardly be able to avoid a broad grin of pleasure at the fact that these cures were even fully covered by health insurance at the time. Even in our latitudes, a bottle of the popular Humagne blanc could be found in the midwife’s birthing kit in Valais until just a few years ago. As a wine with a high calcium and iron content, it was served to new mothers to strengthen them, and probably also to calm the nerves of one or two nervous young fathers.
Despite these stylistic flourishes, wine actually contains a whole host of health-promoting substances and was even crowned “medicinal plant of the year” in 2023. Reason enough to take a closer look behind the scenes, or rather under the grape skin, and find out what healthy nutrients are found in grapes.
It has been proven that wine contains neither fats nor fiber. Proteins are also only present in negligible quantities. The situation is somewhat different with carbohydrates. But even these, in the form of natural fructose and glucose or added sugar, only weigh in at around 2500 mg per 100 g of carbohydrates. Or to put it another way, 100 ml of wine has between 75 and 90 calories, depending on the stage of development, so that you could even treat yourself to a glass of wine during a diet.
