A recent study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry showed that red wine was able to get rid of dental disease-causing bacteria, in a lab setting.

Spanish researchers used a young Pinot Noir for the study, as well as a de-alcoholised version of the wine, which is a type of the wine that had grape seed extract added to it, and a solution of water with 12 per cent ethanol (the positive control).

Researchers also gathered saliva samples from five volunteers in order to grow biofilms with dental disease-causing bacteria. The researchers dipped the biofilms into the different liquids to see their effects on the bacteria. They found that the red wine (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic), as well as wine spiked with grape seed extract, effectively got rid of the bacteria.

They noted that ethanol – which is in wine – is known to be antimicrobial, but that even the non-alcoholic wine had effects in reducing bacteria.

“Since treatments of the biofilm with both wine and de-alcoholised wine inhibited Fusobacterium nucleatum growth, it was likely that other wine components – apart from ethanol – had antimicrobial properties against this bacteria species,” the study said.