Have a drink, red wine!

The results of a study published in September in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in which the antioxidant effects of resveratrol (present in red wine) and hydroxytyrosol (present in white wine) were compared on rats, indicate that white wine is just as effective at improving heart function and preventing clogging of arteries as red.

“We have analyzed various wines,” says Dipak K. Das, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and head of the study. “We discovered that white wine has an interesting cocktail of antioxidants that can also be found in olive oil.”

However, the antioxidant content varies from white to white. After analyzing samples from around the world, Dipak K. Das estimates that the highest in tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol are those from Italy, France and Germany.

“It’s safe to say that some European white wines are as good for the heart as red wine,” says the researcher.

One thing however has not changed: do not take more than one drink a day.