The Study
A multi-omics approach for understanding the effects of moderate wine consumption on human intestinal health.
This study watched what happened to 19 people’s guts after they drank a little wine every day for a month. It found some bacteria changed and some chemicals increased, but it didn’t prove wine caused those changes — it just showed they happened together.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave 14 people a glass of red wine every day for a month and checked their poop to see how their gut bacteria changed.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 561 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes suggest wine may help stabilize gut bacteria and boost production of beneficial gut fats, which are linked to better digestion and metabolism.
- 2After drinking wine daily for 4 weeks: 1) Gut bacteria became more similar across people; 2) A helpful bug called Akkermansia increased in people who process wine polyphenols well; 3) Fecal levels of good fats (butyrate, propionate, acetate) went up and were linked to each other only in wine drinkers.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Food & function
Year
2021
Authors
I. Belda, C. Cueva, A. Tamargo, C. Ravarani, Alberto Acedo, B. Bartolomé, M. Moreno-Arribas
Related Content
Claims (6)
In healthy adults who efficiently process compounds from wine, drinking 250 mL of red wine daily for four weeks is associated with higher levels of the gut bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila.
In healthy adults who drink moderate amounts of red wine, the presence of the gut bacteria Phascolarctobacterium, Pelotomaculum, and Prevotella is linked to higher levels of wine-derived polyphenol metabolites in feces.
Eating colorful plant foods changes the types and activity of gut bacteria, and these changes occur within days.
Drinking 250 mL of red wine daily for four weeks in healthy adults is linked to a reduction in differences in gut bacterial composition between individuals, regardless of how they metabolize polyphenols.
Healthy adults who drank 250 mL of red wine daily for four weeks had higher levels of butyrate, propionate, and acetate in their feces compared to those who did not drink wine, and these three compounds were positively correlated in wine drinkers but not in non-drinkers.
In healthy adults who drink moderate amounts of red wine, higher levels of short-chain fatty acids in feces are observed when certain gut bacteria—Prevotella, Zymophilus, and Eubacterium—are present.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.