Red wine during pregnancy - benefits and harms

In Asian regions, where grapes grow in abundance, winemaking originated more than 7000 years ago. Then the wine was used as a medicine, to improve health, to increase tone. For the same properties, today people appreciate this drink. Red wine is most often produced from black grape varieties. The skin of these berries contains pigments anthocyanins, which gives the drink a characteristic red color.

Useful qualities of red wine

In previous centuries, red wine (only dry) was traditionally included in the diet of expectant mothers. And now many foreign doctors are sure that a woman who sometimes drinks a small amount of this drink more often has children with higher intellectual abilities who are ahead of their peers in the development.

Doctors recommend using moderate doses of dry red wine when planning pregnancy, as its components can facilitate conception. The decay products of alcohol are contained in small quantities, excreted from the body, are not able to harm the embryo.

You can recognize all the positive qualities of this drink if you familiarize yourself with its composition:

1. The drink contains biologically active components that have strong antioxidant properties. The moderate use of dry red wine prolongs life and youth, slows down the aging process.
2. A substance such as resveratrol removes harmful substances - toxins, radionuclides, heavy metals.
3. Red wine can be used to prevent the occurrence of cancer, with it you can slow down the process of tumor growth. When drinking wine, the blood circulation in the cancer cells is disrupted, preventing the tumor from growing further.
4. Moderate consumption of red wine has a beneficial effect on skin condition. The production of collagen fibers and elastin improves. The skin on the face is tightened, wrinkles are smoothed, age spots disappear.
5. Dry red wine is used in weight loss diets. It is able to break down fatty compounds, prevents the appearance of cholesterol plaques, and improves metabolism.
6. Red wine contains tannic acid tannin. It is this substance that determines the shade of the drink and its quality. Tannin does not allow oxidation of the drink, as a natural preservative. When it enters the human body, tannin dilutes blood, strengthens the walls of blood vessels, and increases their elasticity. All this is a good prevention of diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
7. Flavonoids present in the drink are natural antioxidants. They are necessary to improve immunity, to regenerate cells, to normalize fat metabolism in the liver.
8. Red wine contains iron, which is important for maintaining normal hemoglobin levels in the blood. The drink has a beneficial effect on blood circulation, red blood cell production, and vascular elasticity. Due to this, atherosclerosis, varicose veins are less common.
9. Red wine can be used for weakened people after a serious illness or operation. With its help, appetite improves, immunity strengthens. The patient recovers faster after the disease.
10. Wine contains a lot of vitamins. It can be used to prevent vitamin deficiency, with chronic fatigue.

All these useful qualities can manifest themselves only if during the entire period of pregnancy a woman consumed only a few glasses of high-quality dry red wine.Doctors believe that an irresistible desire to eat a product or drink alcohol indicates a lack of any vitamins or minerals. If we are talking about red wine, it is possible that the expectant mother is not enough of B vitamins. These vitamins or trace elements can be obtained with other foods that are unable to harm the fetus.

Risk for a pregnant woman

The use of alcoholic beverages, especially those not of high quality, can cause irreparable harm to the health of an adult. What about the health of an unborn baby?

The effect of alcohol on women's well-being
During pregnancy, the woman’s body works in an enhanced mode, all organs experience an additional load.

Drinking alcohol can cause the onset or exacerbation of the following diseases:

• tachycardia, angina pectoris;
• jumps in blood pressure;
• mood swings, irritability, anxiety, insomnia;
• increase blood clots;
• intestinal disorders (flatulence, diarrhea, constipation).

Alcohol should not be consumed by pregnant women who are diagnosed with ischemic-cervical insufficiency. This pathology occurs in the second or third trimester of pregnancy. Ethanol contained in wine can soften the cervix, which can lead to premature birth. Excessive alcohol consumption during pregnancy dramatically increases the load on the heart and kidneys. The consequence of this will be an increase in pressure, swelling, which can cause the development of preeclampsia and eclampsia. This pregnancy pathology is extremely dangerous, requires immediate medical attention.

The effect of alcohol on the fetus
Alcohol contains toxins that pass through the placenta to the fetus. They have a detrimental effect on the formation of the fetus, on its growth and development. The danger is especially great in the early stages of pregnancy, when all the baby's organs are only laid and are especially vulnerable. In the future, such a child may experience mental and physical retardation, neurological pathologies.

With regular use of alcohol by a pregnant woman, a fetal alcohol syndrome may develop in a child. If available, the child after birth is already addicted to alcohol. Such children in the future have problems with social adaptation, in most cases they start drinking from an early age.

Doctors are united in that it is impossible to abuse any alcohol during pregnancy. But many are sure that in the second and third trimesters a woman can sometimes afford to drink 100 ml of dry red wine no more than twice a month. It is important to remember that the wine must be of good quality. At the beginning of pregnancy, when the process of laying and the formation of all systems and organs of the fetus is underway, it is not worth the risk.

Video: Can I drink alcohol during pregnancy?