Too much alcohol is bad for the heart, brain, liver, and our overall health, which is why the NHS notes we should aim for under 14 units a week.
But a glass or two of red wine at dinner is a different story – right? After all, its compound resveratrol has been linked to better blood pressure, the drink is high in antioxidants called polyphenols, and those who sip a sophisticated glass now and then seem to have better health outcomes than teetotallers.
Except that brain and heart experts, among others, think these links – both the “J-shaped” association (where there seems to be a protective health effect at a lower level of wine consumption) and the reported benefits of red wine itself – might not be as straightforward as they look.
Is “moderate drinking” good for our health?
In his book How To Prevent Dementia, neurologist Dr Richard Restak explained that there can be a flaw in studies comparing non-drinkers to moderate drinkers.
Pointing to a 2018 study which found that people who drank a bit of booze tended to have a lower likelihood of developing dementia than those who drank none at all, Dr Restak said: “Before accepting that assertion, consider this. The non-drinking group included individuals who had been drinking earlier in life but discontinued it.
“It’s quite likely that at least some participants in this group had been advised either by professionals or family members that they should decrease their alcohol intake.”
That might imply a level of substance abuse, which we know can up your dementia risk, the expert theorised.
Professor Tim Stockwell, a scientist at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, also told the University of Chicago that “abstainers” tended to have fewer resources than occasional drinkers – and we know this can impact our health and longevity.
Those who never drank also tended to exercise less, face more disability, have worse diets, and earn less, Professor Stockwell added. And while he doesn’t think many non-drinkers used to have a problem with alcohol, he did say that we should account for former drinking, adding that those who were on medication for existing illnesses could also be off their drink.
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The 2018 paper Dr Restak was referencing mentioned that those with early dementia might have given up drinking because of the condition – not as a cause of it. It continues: “Genetic analyses did not support any protective effect, suggesting that any level of alcohol consumption may contribute to dementia risk.”
Part of this problem lies in the nature of dietary studies. They’re usually observational, meaning we can only see a link between behaviours and outcomes and not a cause.
This is not necessarily some malicious plot on the scientists’ part. It’s hard to think of a moral way to, say, make one group of healthy people chug a litre of wine a night and compare them to another set who’ve been forced to remain teetotal their whole lives.
Sometimes natural dietary experiments, like rationing, take place. But even these can have complicating factors: for instance, Seventh-Day Adventists in the US tend to be vegetarian and have unusually good health outcomes, but they’re also more likely to abstain from other “harmful habits”, including not smoking or drinking.
What does the science actually say about alcohol and red wine?
The NHS notes that drinking fewer than 14 units a week is considered “low risk” rather than “safe” alcohol use, “because there’s no safe drinking level”.
Extreme as that sounds, research seems to back this claim up.
The Framingham study, which looked at brain volume in 1,839 adults, found that “moderate alcohol consumption was not protective against normal age-related differences in total brain volume. Rather, the more alcohol consumed, the smaller the total brain volume”.
A 2026 study found similar results. Their research found “no protective effect” on mortality for those who drank a little alcohol, and suggested that for every added unit we consume, our risk of early death rises.
As for red wine specifically, the British Heart Foundation says that the beneficial compounds found in red wine can be found in other foods – like blueberries, grapes, and strawberries – without the harmful effects of alcohol.
Indeed, their 2018 research found that the benefits did not outweigh the harms for heart health. Senior clinical dietitian Jessica Tilton told the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre that the amount of alcohol you’d need to drink for red wine antioxidants to have a meaningful impact “would nullify a protective effect”.
Experts don’t even think the resveratrol in red wine, sometimes touted as a heart health booster, definitely has that benefit for humans.
The University of Oxford’s Anya Topiwala looked at data from over two million UK Biobank members, which suggested that any amount of alcohol, including the odd glass of wine, seems to increase your likelihood of developing dementia.
This is not to say that drinking the odd glass of red wine will definitely cause disease.
Topiwala herself said: “It’s a risk-benefit trade-off: most of us get in a car even though there’s a risk of having an accident. As long as you’re not drinking large amounts, I wouldn’t panic too much.”
But some experts think it’s certainly not a health booster – as the NHS’ Derby Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service writes: “Drinking even moderate quantities of red wine, just like any other type of alcohol, increases our chance of developing health conditions like high blood pressure, stroke and cancer.”
