A glass of wine a day can actually stop people from getting fat and may even help people to lose weight, say scientists.

Alcohol has always been thought to trigger weight gain because of its high sugar content, but new research suggests a glass a day could form part of any diet plan.

Looking at past studies they found that, while heavy drinkers do put on weight, those who drink in moderation can actually lose weight.

A spokesman for the research team at the Navarro University in Spain said: ‘Light-to-moderate alcohol intake, especially of wine, may be more likely to protect against, rather than promote, weight gain.

‘As positive associations between alcohol and weight gain were mainly found in studies with data on higher levels of drinking, it is possible an effect on weight gain or abdominal adiposity may only be experienced by heavy drinkers.’

They added that ‘the type of alcoholic beverage might play an important role in modifying the effect of alcohol consumption on weight gain’ with more favourable effects generally seen among wine drinkers.

The International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research, reviewed the findings and agreed with most of the conclusions, particularly that current data does not clearly indicate if moderate drinking increases weight.

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