WINE . . . GOOD FOR THE GUT?

THE HEALTH BENEFITS of wine have long been extolled but mainly those are for heart and mind health. Now scientists have found that it may also be good for the digestive system as new research points to a glass of wine being good for the gut. A study published in science examined factors that contribute to the diversity of people’s microbial community. After analyzing stool samples of 1135 Dutch people enrolled in the Lifelines-DEEP study, it found that wine, coffee, tea and yogurt, among other factors, contributed positively to the microbial diversity in the gut. Sugary sodas and smoking during pregnancy, on the other hand, decreased diversity. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically assess such a broad range of host and environmental factors in relation to gut microbiome and at such a large scale,” Jingyuan Fu, an associate professor at the University of Groningen and one of the authors, said.