Is wine a superfood? Boy, we always hope so.

Read through an article at Slate.com about Americans obsession with finding the healthy benefits of wine (read here). More specifically, the author begins to mention all the health benefits we've attributed to resveratrol - something found in grape skins.

I, like the author, tend to find all of these health claims a bit misleading though. Is resveratrol as beneficial as studies might be showing? Perhaps. But we can get that compound into our bodies through grape juice (albeit in slightly smaller concentrations), and even in nutritional supplements. But those options don't carry with them wine's one major appeal - THE ALCOHOL.

The alcohol, that pesky little detail, doesn't quite allow wine the "health food" status that so many people want it to have. We've just rationalized our vices by looking at anorexic french people and drawing wishful conclusions out of scientific studies. But in the end, alcohol is a toxin.

Now I'm not a teetotaler by any means. I like many tasty varieties of beer, but I'm not drinking it and trying to argue that its a great way to consume extra water during the day. Just like anything unhealthy, if I enjoy it at all, I enjoy it in moderation.

Most of my diet is filled with actually healthy (and tasty) food, so that when I do have a pint of beer or a glass of wine, I can enjoy it because it's an occasional sin, not because I've deluded myself into believing it has magical health benefits.

I'll drink to that.