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Writer's pictureDeanna Lowe

Study Finds New Health Benefits from Wine Consumption

There are many health benefits to drinking wine. One of the most well-known health benefits is that red wine contains antioxidants, which helps reduce inflammation and your chances of heart disease. Exciting news for wine lovers has recently come out from a study done by a group of students at the Harvard Medical School, showing a direct correlation with wine consumption and exercise.

This study was done for the UC San Francisco 2020 Medical Student Competition in February, where the objective was to find a food or drink that improves one’s health, but is not commonly used for health purposes. The Harvard Medical students first checked the nutritional composition of various foods and drinks. They discovered a high degree of protein and zinc in sparkling wines like Prosecco and Champagne. As protein is used to build muscle mass and zinc increases metabolism, they decided to put Champagne to the test, since it had the highest levels of protein and zinc.

They ran a 2-month study on 200 Harvard students, having the participants exercise for 3 days each week, with one group consuming 300 mL (2 glasses) of champagne during their exercise. The weight and muscle mass of the participants were tracked throughout the study. Through analyzing the data, the Harvard Medical students found a 5% increase in muscle mass and a 3.5% decrease in weight of the participants consuming Champagne during their exercise, in comparison to the participants who just exercised. The result was a discovery of the health benefits of Champagne consumption with exercise from an increase in protein and zinc nutrients. This scientific finding by the Harvard Medical student group got them 1st place in the UC San Francisco Medical Student Competition.

Harvard Medical School | Image from bostonmagazine.com

Interviews of participants after the study found that the majority of the Champagne-consuming participants described their time in the study as “very fun.” As well, most of the participants mentioned that they gathered together when they exercised and described their experience as "a big party.”

So now the Harvard Medical students are wondering, did the participants in the “Champagne” group really get healthier from the Champagne?


Happy April Fools!



P.S. If you plan on drinking wine while exercising, check out this video. (It'll encourage you to exercise during quarantine.)

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