I am often asked which is healthier, red wine or white wine. Of course, its a loaded question because of the complication of alcohols presence. And drinking too much of either is definitely a problem.
However, when I was drinking wine, I gravitated toward red wine, believing the colored pigments likely contained more polyphenols than its colorless sister. Science has proven me correct.
Researchers gave 30 healthy subjects 300 ml of either red or white wine or no wine over 15 days (average 20ml per day). All of the participants saw a significant reduction of a marker for oxidative stress in their urine. But the red wine group had a greater reduction than the white wine group (38.5% vs. 23.1%). The red wine group also had a greater increase in the beneficial polyphenols than the white wine group (1.9 vs. 1.5. mM).
One point the researchers made almost in passing is probably the most significant part of the study. Unfortunately, they did not spend much time elaborating, so we do not have much data. They said that the same concentration of polyphenols found in human blood from drinking wine blocked oxidation of LDL cholesterol in the test tube. So drinking a little red wine may help lower your LDL cholesterol damage.
Again we see the power of color pigments in plants (wine grapes). More color equals more beneficial chemicals. Benefits were seen with just a little more than one tablespoon of wine per day.
That goes along with my recommendation to drink no more than one glass per day (which, incidentally, is 15 times greater than the amount used in this study).
My suggestion is to emphasize red wine, and please make it organic. There are good organic wines on the market now. You can find them in many good wine shops and some grocery stores.
Ref: Pignatelli, P., A. Ghiselli, et al. Polyphenols synergistically inhibit oxidative stress in subjects given red and white wine, Atherosclerosis, 2006; 188(1): 77-83.