Study: Wine prevents damage from sunburn, nerds rejoice

Like many of our readers, we here at Digital Trends tend to spend a lot of time inside. There are far too many amazing video games, TVs, and computers to play with to be wasting time outside. There is some good news for those of us who do not spend much time outside working on our tans and lack some much-needed pigment in our skin. A recent study shows that there could be a link between drinking red wine and reducing sunburn.

The study found that grapes contain flavonoids, which block changes in the body that might damage skin. These flavonoids also happen to be found in red wine, sorry all you white-wine drinkers. Technically flavonoids don’t prevent sunburn, but they protect the skin from the damaging effects of sunburn. The report says that red wine could actually protect you from the sun’s radiation, and prevent skin cancer. Flavonoids protect the skin by blocking the formation of “reactive oxygen species,” by doing so it limits just how much skin reacts to the sun. In theory you can get the same benefits from simply eating grapes instead of drinking red win, but where is the fun in that?

We can’t think of a better way to help enjoy that new TV you bought then by putting in a movie and opening a bottle of wine, and now you have a good excuse to do so. If anyone gives you any grief for all the wine you are drinking, you can also tell them that it helps to lower your bad cholesterol, so it is almost becoming foolish to not drink wine.