Is Drinking Wine Good For Athletes?
Athletes - both amateurs and professionals alike - have a few main desires: the first is to be able to perform at optimal levels, the second is to maintain a good, healthy physique, and the third is to have good exercise endurance. But aside from hard training, there are no other legitimate ways to enhance the body muscles and fitness. Luckily, researchers are now saying they have found a hidden benefit of a common pleasure– red wine testosterone. Besides drinking red wine for taste and enjoyment, the beverage also has health benefits, including the ability to boost exercise performance. Let’s take a deeper look into the benefits of wine for athletes.
Good Exercise Endurance – Who Knew?
For decades, it has been observed that people who regularly drink wine in moderation have lower cholesterol and also experience better exercise endurance. Recent research has uncovered the reasons why. Red wine contains a host of natural substances, like polyphenols, that have health benefits, including the ability to boost exercise performance. Red wine also contains numerous potent antioxidants which may help prevent coronary artery disease that triggers heart attacks. Red wine itself isn't a full source for all of these, but it does contain some.
Resveratrol
One of the polyphenols is the substance resveratrol, which has been extensively studied both in the laboratory and in athletes. Resveratrol appears to work by increasing the energy production within muscle cells by stimulating the mitochondria, which is the part of the cell that produces energy in the human body. Unfortunately, the amount of resveratrol in red wine is small and at doses required to boost exercise performance, a person would have to drink nearly 400 glasses of red wine in 24 hours. That is nowhere near a realistic proposal - so what’s next with regard to wine for athletes?
Red Blend Wines
More research shows that red blends may also have other chemicals that occur naturally that can boost the production of testosterone. Testosterone is an anabolic hormone that can rapidly build muscle mass, increase red blood productivity, and improve exercise performance. What is this substance in red wine that can increase levels of testosterone? That compound is called quercetin. Quercetin prevents the breakdown of natural testosterone in the body and also reduces its excretion by the kidneys. Therefore, if you drink red wine, your levels of red wine testosterone will start to increase. Quercetin is also a good pain killer, and this will help ease your muscle aches and fatigue. You don’t get the full effects, however, unless you drink red wine semi-regularly.
Is wine going to make you a better athlete? That’s a stretch. But when it comes to the best kinds of alcohol for athletes, wine is up there. Fitness experts say that to improve exercise performance, you should use common sense, exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet, avoid smoking, and drink in moderation. When it comes to wine for athletes, this holds true.
If you decide to drink red wine for its health benefits, adult males should drink no more than two glasses a day and females should limit themselves to one drink per day. If you’re looking to get into wine pairing, here are a few of our recommendations to start with: