Oh, happy day! They’re telling us again how good for us red wine is. This time a benefit has been found to start even before wine’s antioxidant protective qualities have had a chance to kick in. The polyphenols in the wine help the stomach convert other substances (such as nitrites) into–guess what?–nitric oxide (NO), which helps the stomach relax and aids digestion.

Of course this article on the benefits of red wine was published in Wine Spectator–not exactly a scientific journal. But the American Heart Association isn’t arguing too much about it. They do, however, point out that red wine’s polyphenols (also present in apples, berries, and onions) don’t need the alcohol part of the equation to be effective at producing NO.

Hey, I have no problem imbibing fully alcoholic wine to get the many benefits. Just keep that research comin’…

Image credit: AntiOXidant 2008