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Red Wine Maintains Immune System According to a study published in 1999 by the University of Florida, red wine does not supress the immune system like other alcoholic beverages. Red wine is well known for its health benefits - from helping fight heart disease and cancer, to warding off Alzheimers and extending life in general. There had been some concern in the past, though, that as an alcoholic beverage it might share in some of the immune-system supression that tends to come with the alcohol.

Susan Percival, a nutrition and immunity specialist, performed a two month study on mice to examine what immune system reactions red wine caused on mammals. Her team examined mice of various drinking levels - non-drinkers, red wine drinkers, and heavy alcohol drinkers. They found that those who drank the red wine had a normal level of immunity, the same as that of the non-drinking mice.

Ms. Percival explained that the level of red wine consumption for the mice would equal that of a human drinking two or three glasses a night.

The research group wishes to do further studies, to determine what substance in red wine helps differentiate it from the other alcohols. The group also plans on performing studies on humans to see if the findings hold up with adult drinkers.

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Wine and Health