It’s no secret that moderate wine consumption is beneficial to your health. It prevents against heart disease, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. But there’s even more good news. Madrid-based Institute of Food Science Research has just found another benefit to drinking wine.

According to Science Daily, Dr. Esteban-Fernández and her team at the Madrid based institute are studying the molecular mechanisms behind the health benefits of wine consumption. Rather than looking at the wine itself, the researchers have been studying the remaining compounds left in the body after wine has passed through it. The study involved choosing metabolites based on excretion of regular wine consumers and adding them to “human cells under stress conditions that normally lead to neuronal cell dysfunction and death.” The result? The metabolites were actually aiding the cells from dying, thanks to their specific composition and breakdown within the intestines.

By passing through the stomach, low to red wine consumption can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. The study has recently been published in Frontiers in Nutrition.

As if we really needed another excuse to maintain our nightly glass of red habit.