The Truth About Drinking A Glass Of Wine Every Day

While you have probably heard of the health benefits to drinking a glass of wine–especially red wine–everyone knows drinking a lot of wine consistently could have some bad side effects. But can drinking a glass of wine every day really be a good thing? Studies are published all the time that promote the health benefits of drinking wine in moderation, but the bad effects of wine could very easily creep up on you if you are not keeping up with how many drinks you’ve had. “You do not need to drink wine every day, and less is probably better than more,” said Lisa R. Young, “But if are drinking, the dietary guidelines suggest one drink for females and two drinks for males.”

However, drinking wine at this low level is not right for all people and you should know about the potential drawbacks of even drinking very little. Before you think about pouring another glass, read on to learn about the major effects of consuming even a single glass of wine consistently has on your health.

1 — Increases the risk for higher blood pressure

“According to the guidelines, moderate alcohol consumption (one glass each day for females and two a day for males) is normally considered okay for cardiovascular health but could increase an individual’s risk for hypertension,” said Young. Hypertension, which is also known as having high blood pressure, could lead to kidney disease and heart failure.

Alcohol can interact in potentially dangerous ways with a lot of medications, including antidepressants, anticonvulsants, acetaminophen, sedatives and painkillers. It could also make antibiotics useless. Make sure to read the warnings on all your medications before drinking.

3 — Drinking wine could raise breast cancer risk

Even moderate alcohol consumption seems to raise the risk of developing breast cancer, according to over 100 epidemiologic studies. Researchers discovered that for every 10 gm of alcohol consumed each day, there was a 7% increased risk of developing breast cancer.

4 — It could also raise your total cancer risk

According to a research article released in 2019, consuming a bottle of wine every week—far less than a glass per day—increases a person’s lifetime risk of cancer as much as smoking five cigarettes for males and 10 cigarettes for females per week.

5 — It could lead to a heartbeat that is abnormal 

This one is really scary! Frequently consuming alcohol, even in smaller amounts, could increase your risk of having an abnormally fast heartbeat. Researchers discovered that those who drink alcohol every day had the highest risk, compared to people who drank alcohol only once or twice each week.