The actual question here is: How much wine may I drink per day in order to benefit from the healthful effects without damaging internal organs with too much alcohol?

Different literature offers different answers, and there are certainly many factors that influence the blood alcohol content. The Danish Study of Wine mentions 3 - 5 glasses of wine per day. German medical experts advise that women should consume no more than 20 - 30 g alcohol per day (about 2 glasses), men no more than 40 - 50 g (3 glasses). Important to benefit from the healthful effects is that wine is drunken moderately and regularly, and not irregularly in excess. Customarily, dry wines with higher alcohol levels are preferred with meals, whereby mellower wines are generally enjoyed as a special treat in company.

In countries where the drinking of wine is wide-spread, less people die of coronary and circulatory diseases than elsewhere. This fact, the so-called "French Paradox" was proven by Dr. Renaud in the 1980's and is acknowledged worldwide. A study of the Institute for Preventive Medicine of the University of Copenhagen contains findings of tests on 6051 men and 7234 women between the ages of 30 and 70 over a period of 12 years.

One conclusion that the researchers came to was that mortality decreased with the rise in wine consumption - because the risk of cardiovascular disease is diminished. Compared to persons who consume no wine at all, the relative risk of coronary heart disease is reduced by nearly 50% when daily wine consumption is between 3 and 5 glasses.