Study finds red wine prevents sunburn

We'll pretty much grab onto any excuse that allows us to drink more wine, and while we've been touting its positive effects on heart health and longevity for years, now we have a new line to use as we uncork another bottle: Wine prevents sunburn.

A study at the University of Barcelona, which was published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, found that grapes contain flavonoids that prevent the skin from forming reactive oxygen species -- which is a fancy phrase for the stuff that interacts with UV rays, destroys skin cells and makes you turn red as a lobster when you just wanted to soak up some rays on the beach. And in the long-term, that could prevent wrinkles, ugly skin damage and cancer, too.

To get the benefits, though, you have to drink red -- flavonoids come mostly from the skin and seeds, which get filtered out during the production of white wine. So we suggest Beaujolais or Pinot Noir, which are lighter in body, served colder and aren't nearly as oppressive in the hot summer sun.

Of course, you could just eat grapes, too, to get the benefits. But who wants to do that?