As if you needed an excuse to drink more wine, a study has give us a great reason to. Wine can help you from getting sick.

What?

Yep.

The study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, expanded on a 1988 study in which researches looked at the antibacterial properties of wine, carbonated beverages, beer, skim milk, and water. Researchers contaminated each drink with infectious bacterial like salmonella, E. coli, and shigella.

They found that after two days, the wine had eliminated the most live bacteria of any of the beverages and that wine was a great disinfectant.

In the follow-up study, researchers initially believed that the acidity of wine and alcohol content lead to the bacteria being killed, but they actually found that it’s due to an organic compound found in both red and white wine.

The compounds - lactic, malic, succinic, and tartaric acids - were isolated by researchers and their acidity neutralized. The results were astonishing - 99.9% of dental bacteria was killed as well as germs that cause sore throats.

The authors wrote, “Exposure to wine had a persistent antibacterial effect. A minor distinction, however, is that red wine is better at killing bacteria than white wine, but not by much.”

So, pop that cork, unscrew that bottle, tap that box, or open that can (yes, they sell wine in cans) and enjoy knowing that it’s is even better for you than you thought.

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