The most widely publicised health benefits of wine are the cardiovascular benefits that reduce the incidence of heart disease. Around 75% of these benefits derive directly from alcohol, especially in relation to lipid profile with respect to high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and wine’s beneficial effects with blood clotting. However, that does mean that drinkers of non-alcoholic wines are able to receive around a quarter of these cardiovascular benefits. The polyphenolic fraction of wine, which are the extracts from skins and seeds that give red wines their colour and texture, are still present in non-alcoholic red wines. These assert an independent effect on the blood liver profile (not necessarily on low-density lipoproteins or LDLs), while their primary effects are related to blood clotting and to blood vessel walls. Furthermore, non-alcoholic wines will also contribute the full anti-cancer benefits of wine that derive from its constituent free radical and other anti-oxidants. In other words, while they do not provide the full suite of benefits of alcoholic wines, non-alcoholic wines do certainly offer some significant health-related bonuses over other non-alcoholic beverages.
