Moderate consumption of wine, meaning one to two glasses per day, may actually be good for your health according to Dr. Curtis Ellison, Chief of Preventive Medicine at Boston University (Moderate Wine Consumption and Health: A Scientific Perspective). Historically, physicians have recommended wine for the treatment of iron deficiency, to help vegetarians increase their mineral absorption, and to help reduce the incidence of troublesome sleep disorders. The traditional use of wine with meals offers many benefits including aiding the digestive process, stimulating the intake of nutrients and helping reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by reducing cholesterol.

The term "French Paradox" refers to the fact that per capita alcohol consumption, in the form of wine, and saturated fat intake in France are very high, but levels of coronary heart disease in that country are relatively low. Researchers have discovered that one reason for the low rate of coronary heart disease is the presence of phenolic compounds or antioxidants such as "resveratrol" in wine, especially red wine. Studies show that resveratrol lowers LDL cholesterol (the so-called "bad") while elevating HDL cholesterol (the "good") levels, which helps to clear arterial walls of harmful deposits (Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experimental Station, Vol. 58, No. 2).

Recent studies have found muscadine grapes and their resulting products to contain more resveratrol and other antioxidants than any other types of grapes. Muscadine grapes contain antioxidants in skins, seed, pulp, juice and wine.

Dr. Arthur Klatsky, chief of the Division of Cardiology at the Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente Medical group monitored 8,000 people for 10 years. The results (published in Alcohol and Mortality: A New, Prospective Kaiser Permanente Study, Annals of Internal Medicine, 117, 1992) showed that people who drink one or two glasses of wine per day live longer and are less likely to die from all causes than either abstainers or heavy drinkers.
Indeed, scientific researchers have found repeatedly that moderate daily wine consumption actually appears to be more beneficial than either zero consumption or over-consumption.A healthy lifestyle also includes regular exercise and a diet low in fat and high in fresh fruit, vegetables, and grains.

The 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the official United States nutrition policy, advises, "If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in moderation, with meals, and when consumption does not put you or others at risk." The Dietary Guidelines define moderation as "no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men." For those adults who include wine in their lifestyle: