Which wine is good for gut health?
If you’ve heard that looking after your gut is important, you might think that you have to give up on wine to do that. Modern lifestyles can be tough on our gut, but wine doesn’t have to be off the table.
We’re taking a deep dive into gut health, why it’s important, which wines are bad for your gut and which ones can benefit your microbiome.
What is gut health?
Your body is home to trillions of bacteria and microbes that live in your intestines and on your skin. This is called the microbiome. Lots of these bacteria and microbes are good and support your immune system, heart, weight and other parts of your health.
The bacteria and microbes that live in your intestines have a big impact on your gut health. There are up to 1000 species of bacteria in your gut microbiome. They all play a different role in your body and we couldn’t actually live without them.
If you’ve been anywhere near Instagram or TikTok, you’d have heard all about the benefits of looking after your gut. A ticket to a healthier, happier body can sometimes sound too good to be true, but there is mounting scientific evidence to prove your microbiome really has a positive impact on your immune system, digestion, mood and weight regulation.
Great ways to look after your gut health include eating lots of colourful fruit and veg, fibres, fermented food like kimchi and kombucha, getting enough sleep and managing your stress levels.
More recently, scientists have started to look at how wine can support a healthy gut too.
Can wine be good for your gut health and microbiome?
What are polyphenols?
All wines contain antioxidants called polyphenols. Antioxidants fight free radicals in your body that could cause illness like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. A few of the polyphenols included in wine are resveratrol (lowers inflammation), procyanidins (strong antioxidants) and ellagic acid (helps regulate blood sugar). Some studies have shown that polyphenols boost the growth of gut bacteria.
Which wines have the most benefits for your gut health?
Polyphenols come from the grapes’ skins, so the longer the wine stays in contact with the skin, the more polyphenols end up in the wine. Wine also gets its colour from contact with the skin. This means red wine is the wine that stays in contact with the grapes’ skin for the longest, and includes the most polyphenols as a result. Next is orange, rose and white wine, each with decreasing amounts of polyphenols. This is true of both processed and natural wines.
Processed wines vs. natural wines
Most regular processed wine can include up to 52 additives that aren’t legally required to be listed on the label. This means you actually have no clue what’s in your glass. If you’re someone who likes to know what they’re putting in their body, this might come as a shock. Some of these additives include fish bladder, sugar, chemicals and metal.
Processed wines do contain polyphenols, but their benefits might be outweighed by the undisclosed additives that could cause havoc to your gut. Because the labels don’t disclose information about the additives, it’s impossible to figure out which ones your gut is sensitive to. Natural wines, in comparison, contain zero additives. This means you don’t have to worry about any of them upsetting your gut microbiome.
Natural wine is also 100% chemical free. Natural winemakers only use natural methods and don’t spray their grapes with any pesticides. That’s unlike regular wine, with European grapes being the crops that receive the most pesticides after citrus. Studies have shown that these pesticides end up in conventional wine. Because grapes used to make natural wines aren’t sprayed with any chemicals, you can be 100% sure none of these chemicals will end up in your wine. And that’s got to be better for your gut!
Natural wine is packed with probiotic and live cultures
Natural wine goes through a natural fermentation process. The fermentation happens thanks to native yeast, which is naturally present in the air (a similar process to making sourdough bread). It can’t get more natural than this!
Thanks to the natural fermentation process, natural wine ends up packed with probiotic and live cultures. That’s just like kefir and kombucha. Your gut thrives on probiotic and live cultures. Studies have shown that probiotics can help reduce the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), prevent and shorten diarrhoea, boost your mental health, keep your heart healthy, boost your immune system and help you lose weight.
All natural wines include probiotic and live cultures, independently of their colour.
“Just Grapes = no BS! I checked all the labels: unrefined, hand picked, wild yeast, natural fermentation, biodynamic etc etc. Taste = different and incredible! My Guts = happy belly” Clara, Just Grapes customer
“As someone who has endless food intolerances, it’s amazing to be able to find awesome wines essentially good for me” Maddie, Just Grapes customer
How to make sure you reap the gut health benefits of wine?
If you want to look after your gut health, choosing natural wine over processed wine should make a difference. Because it doesn’t include any hidden additives, your gut won’t get disturbed and you won’t have to play a guessing game to find out what upset it. By drinking natural wine, you also reap all the benefits of probiotic and live cultures.
But you only get these benefits if you drink in moderation. If you drink too much, all these benefits are cancelled out by the negative impact of alcohol. What’s moderation? Good question. The NHS advises we drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread across 3 days or more. That's around 6 medium (175ml) glasses of wine per week.
The best way is to get inspiration from the mediterranean diet and have a glass of wine a day, with a meal. As soon as you drink more than two or three glasses, the alcohol content increase in your guts will counteract any health benefits.
Our natural wine case includes six bottles, which matches the recommended amount of alcohol for one person in a month. You can treat yourself knowing that you’re being kind to your gut and your health.