(WineSpectator) - It's one of the few tenets the scientific community almost universally agrees on: Cigarettes are bad for you. But a new study from Germany has found that drinking a glass of wine, specifically red wine, may counteract the short-term negative effects of smoking. While the researchers are not suggesting anyone light up, their findings offer more evidence of wine's health benefits.

The scientists, whose work was published online in the American Journal of Medicine, noted that smoking's short-term effects on cardiovascular health are almost the opposite of red wine's effects. When you light up, the smoke inflames blood vessels and damages cells. Research has shown that red wine decreases blood vessel inflammation.