Is wine suitable for vegetarians?

We put Les' question to panelists Toni Steer and Chris Basu...

Toni - As far as I'm aware, I think it is suitable for vegetarians, although it does contain - I'm trying to think of the wine-making process.

Chris Basu - Wine isn't suitable for vegans if you're worried about animal by-products. A lot of alcohol, so beer and wine, in its manufacturing there's a process where you want to clear all the sediment from it and a lot of processes use fish bladder cells, I believe.

Chris - Can you count it towards on of your five a day though, more importantly Toni?

Toni - No absolutely not!

Chris - Even though it's made from all this healthy grape juice.

Toni - No, that's definitely not one of the five a day.

Chris - But red wine; there is an evidence base that red wine does have a nutritional benefit, doesn't it because if you've got the pips and the seeds there's lots of tannins and antioxidants in it?

Toni - There's this idea that actually, you've got fighter nutrients in red wine that are sort of beneficial in terms of looking at lowering blood pressure a little bit, or acting as antioxidants, reducing your risk of cardiovascular disease but I think that the totality of the evidence is a little bit cautious as to how much you should really have for that kind of beneficial effect. So I think drinking in moderation is still recommended.