I hope the headline—a quote from Julia Child—caught your attention. I thought it would be a good starter for an article about the health benefits of red wine.

I think we’ve all heard that red wine—enjoyed in moderation—is good for you.  This revelation all started back in 1991, when 60 Minutes did a story called “The French Paradox.” Morley Safer discovered that the French, in spite of their high-fat diet, had a low incidence of heart disease, and scientists mainly attributed that to their consumption of red wine.

Ever since then, additional discoveries about the benefits of wine have come to light. They include:

Red wine is loaded with antioxidants, most notably resveratrol, which scientists believe may benefit certain conditions affected by a decrease in natural estrogen, including menopause, breast cancer, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Moderate amounts of red wine, such as a glass per day, may provide enough resveratrol to protect against estrogen depletion in the body. (Attention, ladies!)

Resveratrol is also known to be an effective blood thinner, helping prevent the formation of dangerous blood clots.

Resveratrol also can lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, helping prevent the buildup of plaque in the arteries.

And if that weren’t enough for you, resveratrol is believed to regulate nitric oxide, a gas that enables smooth muscles to relax. This relaxation of smooth muscle also occurs in the walls of the blood vessels and allows blood to flow smoothly through the vessel.

The alcohol in red wine is believed to slow the progression of neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Much more evidence of the benefits of this magic elixir exists…all you have to do is Google “red wine and health,” and you’ll find them.

Just don’t forget: a glass a day for the ladies and two a day for the men (boy, did we get the short end of the stick there) is recommended for good health. Beyond that, and you run into issues of too many calories (120 in a 5-oz glass) and too much alcohol.

Jennifer Faircloth, co-owner of Anytime Wines in Cary, NC, shared this with us.