Drinking wine with a meal may help reduce the impact of unhealthy fats, according to a major European study.
Wine-drinkers seem to absorb "healthy" omega-3 fats better than others, researchers found.
Omega-3 fats are found in fish – but are also contained in small proportions in other foods such as meat. They are thought to have a major impact on the health of the heart if consumed instead of other kinds of fat.
The study of some 1,600 people in Italy, Belgium and London, England, found that beer and spirits also helped – but that wine was most effective.
The finding may help explain why wine and other alcohol has frequently been shown to be healthy in small quantities.
Researchers studied native people in the three areas but also studied a group of families of Italian descent living in Belgium, descended from miners who moved to the country.
The findings of the European Union funded study are to be published next month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Researcher Licia Iacoviello, of the Catholic University of Campobasso, Italy, said: "Analysis carried out on different alcoholic beverages showed that the association between alcohol and omega-3 fatty acids was present in both wine drinkers and beer or spirits drinkers.
"However, the association was stronger between wine drinking and omega-3 fatty acids levels. This suggests that components of wine other than alcohol is associated with omega-3 fatty acids concentration. We may guess this effect can be ascribed to polyphenols."
Fellow researcher Romina di Giuseppe said: "Several studies have shown that moderate alcohol consumption, including wine, is associated with protection against coronary heart disease and ischaemic stroke.
"Although the mechanisms are not completely defined, there was some evidence that alcohol intake might influence the metabolism of essential polyunsaturated fatty acids, as omega-3. That is exactly what we found in our population study."
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition January 2008
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