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Health Q & A: Are Sweet Red Wines Healthy?

Tina Benitez

Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Q: Are sweet, red wines okay for your health? Please advise.
—Mae Davis

A: Professor Andrew Waterhouse, chair of the department of viticulture and enology at UC Davis, answers:

Sweet red wines are made by extracting the polyphenols, the antioxidants, from the skins and seeds during the fermentation, as in all red winemaking. The only difference is that the fermentation is stopped before all the sugar has been consumed by the yeast, making the wine sweet. These wines contain approximately 50 to 100 grams of sugar per liter, or about one to two teaspoons in a 4-ounce glass, mostly glucose and fructose. So, these wines would have the same health effects as other red wines, the only difference being that the sugar could be an issue for diabetics.

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