Spanish scientists dipped cultures of bacteria responsible for dental diseases into various liquids, and found that red wine was the most effective at removing the bacteria.
Here we reveal what else red wine can do for you.
It improves your balance. An experiment on laboratory mice found a diet rich in resveratrol - a compound found in red wine - improved older mice’s balance over time.
"Our study suggests that a natural compound like resveratrol could actually decrease some of the motor deficiencies that are seen in our aging population," told the scientist who led the experiment the American Chemical Society.
It makes you live longer. Research suggests resveratrol could help humans live longer lives, by suppressing molecules which cause inflammation as well as compounds in the blood which interfere with the production of insulin.
It keeps you mentally agile. People who drink a glass of red wine a day are less likely to develop dementia, especially Alzheimer's, according to a study conducted at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany.
The academics found that subjects who drank between two and three units a day were almost a third less likely to be showing signs of dementia at the end of a three-year-period than those who were teetotal.
It helps you keep weight off. Women who drink a moderate amount of alcohol with meals were found to have a lower risk of becoming overweight in middle age, according to a 2010 report in the Archives of Internal Medicine - with red wine-drinkers the least likely to become overweight. The authors of the report noted that the women showed an increase in energy expenditure after drinking, which they suggested balanced out the additional calories in the alcoholic drink.
But, as with all these benefits, the advantage is only felt when wine is drunk in moderation.
