People with Type 2 diabetes get an earful of grim lectures about their health prospects and endure much hardship to manage their condition well. But new research offers those who do so a rare reward. A glass of wine every day not only won’t hurt, says a new study, it can actually improve cardiac health, help manage cholesterol and foster better sleep.

The new research, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, found that compared to a nightly glass of mineral water, a single glass of wine — red or white — offered those with well-managed Type 2 diabetes some benefits.

After two years, those who drank a glass of white wine nightly improved their triglyceride levels compared with those who drank water or red wine.

But red wine’s benefits were far more numerous and more pronounced than those of white wine: Ruby-colored varietals significantly increased participants’ HDL cholesterol — the “good” form of cholesterol that protects against heart disease — by nearly 10 percent and improved the overall cholesterol profiles of those who got it. Red wine drinkers also saw improvements in their apolipoprotein a1 levels — a measure of lipid metabolism.