There are few ideas in drinking culture more persistent than the belief that a glass of red wine with dinner is somehow good for us.
It is a comforting idea. It sounds civilised. It evokes the long lunch, the Mediterranean table, the French village, the sense that pleasure and health might be able to coexist neatly in one glass.
The difficulty is that the science does not really support it.
The story is usually traced back to the so-called French Paradox. French people appeared to have lower levels of heart disease than might be expected, despite a diet that included cheese, meat and other saturated fats. The proposed explanation was red wine. Perhaps, the argument went, wine was protecting the heart.
But that explanation has always been too convenient. If people in parts of France or the Mediterranean had better cardiovascular health, there were many other possible reasons: olive oil, fish, vegetables, fruit, legumes, wholegrains, more sunlight, more walking, better food patterns, and a different relationship with meals. Wine happened to be present. That does not mean wine was the cause.
In an interview with ARENI Global, I said that the famous J-curve — the idea that moderate drinkers do better than non-drinkers — is probably an artefact of living in southern France and having a much better diet [1]. That still seems to me the most sensible interpretation. Wine drinkers often differ from non-wine drinkers in ways that have little to do with wine: income, diet, healthcare, social habits, and stress. These factors matter enormously.
There is also the resveratrol argument. Red wine does contain compounds that are biologically interesting. But the amounts found in a glass of wine are far too small to justify treating wine as a health product. You would not sensibly drink alcohol in order to obtain trace amounts of a plant compound that is available elsewhere without the ethanol.
This matters because a recent US study has again shown how uncomfortable the alcohol evidence has become. The Alcohol Intake and Health Study, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, found no protective effect from low-level drinking and concluded that risks begin at relatively low consumption levels [2]. The accompanying editorial describes how the report, originally commissioned to inform US dietary guidance, was sidelined after producing evidence at odds with commercial interests [3].
That political story is American, but the health question is not.
The most awkward point is cancer. Alcohol is metabolised into acetaldehyde, which can damage cells and DNA. In the ARENI interview, when asked about whether there is a level of alcohol consumption without health risk, I said that if one is looking for a threshold that does not increase cancer risk, the answer would be about one glass of wine a year [1].
That is not how most people think about “moderate drinking”. The cultural myth is one glass a day with dinner. The toxicological point is closer to one glass a year if your aim is zero added cancer risk.
Of course, most people do not live by toxicology alone. We do many things because they bring pleasure, ritual, conversation and companionship. Wine has played that role for centuries, and I am not interested in pretending otherwise. Social drinking can be part of social life, and social life matters.
But we should separate the social benefit from the health claim. A glass of wine may make a meal more enjoyable. It may help conversation. It may be part of a ritual you value. That is quite different from saying it improves your health.
So, my advice is simple: do not drink wine because you believe it is protective. Drink, if you choose to, because you enjoy it, and then manage the risk honestly. Drink less, drink with food, avoid intoxication, and give your body days without alcohol.
The French Paradox was never proof that wine was medicine. It may have been proof that good food, good company and a slower way of eating are better for us than we realised.
—Professor David Nutt
References
[1] ARENI Global, “Do Wine and Health Go Together? In Conversation with Prof. David Nutt,” 2022/2025.
[2] George S. et al., “Alcohol Intake and Health Study: No Protective Effect at Low Levels, With Mortality Increasing to 1 in 25 at 14 Drinks Per Week,” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2026.
[3] Vincent R.M., “Alcohol Policy, Commercial Influence, and the Public Health Costs of Ignoring Evidence: The Case of the Alcohol Intake and Health Study,” Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2026.
[4] Harvard Health Publishing, “Is red wine actually good for your heart?”, 2018.
