Finally scientists have finally found something to celebrate about the female condition. It seems women who drink wine put on fewer pounds than teetotallers of the same sex. So you can tuck into a couple of glasses of wine every night and still stay slim. There are a couple of provisos: limiting yourself to drinking two glasses a night and those glasses should contain red wine.
Women can drink white wine, beer and spirits and not gain much weight, but the American study found that red wine drinkers gained the least.
So what’s going on?
Although wine contains calories, the US researchers believe the 19,000 women in the study may have substituted it for other food.
At the start of the 13 year study all the late 30s and older women volunteers were of normal weight. As the study progressed all gained some weight, but the red wine drinkers gained the least while just over forty per cent of the non-drinkers became overweight or obese. The study concluded that the alcohol absenters gained the most weight while moderate drinkers gained the least.
It seems the women in the study who scoffed wine had little room left for scoffing food, so their overall calorie intake did not go up very much.
Unfortunately the scientists believe the findings may not apply to men. When men drink they tend not substitute wine for food but consume both.
Which is a shame because now there’s no excuse for not sharing an evening’s bottle of red but it could be an excuse for an unequal sized serving of the plates of nosh.
PG Wine Reviews
Vanderburg South African Shiraz Pinotage 2013
£4.49 Co-op (Down from £6.49 until February 25)
Tastes and smells of a fruity custard tart: damsons, plum, milk choc and nutmeg. A light red even with the fair wallop of Pinotage in it. Bargain.
Spar French Côtes du Rhone
£5.99 Spar
Open this wine at least 45minutes before you want to drink it, otherwise you’ll gain all the tannin and none of the smoothness. Cherry, chocolate and blackcurrant. An elegant wine hiding in an inelegant bottle.
Sainsbury’s Winemakers’ Selection French Carginan Syrah 2012
£5.99 or 2 for £10 Sainsbury’s
Smooth cherry, choc and violet flavours with a spicy overlay. Nice.
Sainsbury’s Winemakers’ Selection French Costieres de Nimes 2011
£6 Sainsbury’s
Tastes like a box of Black Magic assorted chocs.
La Catedral Spanish Rioja 2012
£6.99 Spar
Tastes of jammy dodgers. Fruity.
Vergelegen Reserve South African Cabernet Sauvignon 2007
£13.99 Co-op
Needs at least an hour to breathe, so open the wine before you cook the tea. Complex flavours of fresh blackcurrant and cherry with extra rose petal and cigar butts just to get you guessing. Good choice of wine to impress the other half.
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© Paula Goddard 2014 www.paulagoddard.com
