Does a glass of red wine improve endothelial function?

AIMS To examine the acute effect of red wine and de-alcoholized red wine on endothelial function. METHODS AND RESULTS High frequency ultrasound was used to measure blood flow and percentage brachial artery dilatation after reactive hyperaemia induced by forearm cuff occlusion in 12 healthy subjects, less than 40 years of age, without known cardiovascular risk factors. The subjects drank 250 ml of red wine with or without alcohol over 10 min according to a randomized procedure. Brachial artery dilatation was measured again 30 and 60 min after the subjects had finished drinking. The subjects were studied a second time within a week of the first study in a cross-over design. After the red wine with alcohol the resting brachial artery diameter, resting blood flow, heart rate and plasma-ethanol increased significantly. After the de-alcoholized red wine these parameters were unchanged. Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery was significantly higher (P<0.05) after drinking de-alcoholized red wine (5.6+/-3.2%) than after drinking red wine with alcohol (3.6+/-2.2%) and before drinking (3.9+/-2.5%). CONCLUSION After ingestion of red wine with alcohol the brachial artery dilated and the blood flow increased. These changes were not observed following the de-alcoholized red wine and were thus attributable to ethanol. These haemodynamic changes may have concealed an effect on flow-mediated brachial artery dilatation which did not increase after drinking red wine with alcohol. Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery increased significantly after de-alcoholized red wine and this finding may support the hypothesis that antioxidant qualities of red wine, rather than ethanol in itself, may protect against cardiovascular disease.

[1]  R. Cohen,et al.  The role of nitric oxide and other endothelium-derived vasoactive substances in vascular disease. , 1995, Progress in cardiovascular diseases.

[2]  P. Elwood,et al.  Alcohol and platelet aggregation: the Caerphilly Prospective Heart Disease Study. , 1992, The American journal of clinical nutrition.

[3]  K. Kugiyama,et al.  Intracoronary infusion of reduced glutathione improves endothelial vasomotor response to acetylcholine in human coronary circulation. , 1998, Circulation.

[4]  E. Parks,et al.  Inhibition of oxidation of human low-density lipoprotein by phenolic substances in red wine , 1993, The Lancet.

[5]  W. Willett,et al.  Moderate alcohol intake, increased levels of high-density lipoprotein and its subfractions, and decreased risk of myocardial infarction. , 1993, The New England journal of medicine.

[6]  A. Yeung,et al.  Close relation of endothelial function in the human coronary and peripheral circulations. , 1995, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[7]  P. Schnohr,et al.  Mortality associated with moderate intakes of wine, beer, or spirits , 1995, BMJ.

[8]  R. Andriantsitohaina,et al.  Nitric oxide production and endothelium‐dependent vasorelaxation induced by wine polyphenols in rat aorta , 1997, British journal of pharmacology.

[9]  L. Criscione,et al.  Alcohol Suppresses Endothelium‐Dependent Relaxation in Rat Mesenteric Vascular Beds , 1989, Hypertension.

[10]  J. German,et al.  Inhibition of in vitro human LDL oxidation by phenolic antioxidants from grapes and wines , 1996 .

[11]  I. Mattiasson,et al.  ALCOHOL AND HYPERTENSION , 1981, The Lancet.

[12]  R. Doughty,et al.  Handgrip exercise increases postocclusion hyperaemic brachial artery dilatation , 1999, Heart.

[13]  W E Haefeli,et al.  Nitric oxide is responsible for flow-dependent dilatation of human peripheral conduit arteries in vivo. , 1995, Circulation.

[14]  J. Shellito,et al.  Ethanol relaxes pulmonary artery by release of prostaglandin and nitric oxide. , 1993, Alcohol.

[15]  W. Mayhan.  Responses of cerebral arterioles during chronic ethanol exposure. , 1992, The American journal of physiology.

[16]  L. Ghiadoni,et al.  Vitamin C improves endothelium-dependent vasodilation by restoring nitric oxide activity in essential hypertension. , 1998, Circulation.

[17]  A. Dobson,et al.  How much alcohol and how often? Population based case-control study of alcohol consumption and risk of a major coronary event , 1997, BMJ.

[18]  M. Maclure.  Demonstration of deductive meta-analysis: ethanol intake and risk of myocardial infarction. , 1993, Epidemiologic reviews.

[19]  S. Maxwell,et al.  Red wine and antioxidant activity in serum , 1994, The Lancet.

[20]  P. Vanhoutte,et al.  Flow-induced release of endothelium-derived relaxing factor. , 1986, The American journal of physiology.

[21]  A. Yeung,et al.  Flow-induced vasodilation of the human brachial artery is impaired in patients <40 years of age with coronary artery disease. , 1996, The American journal of cardiology.

[22]  T. Somers,et al.  Spectral evaluation of young red wines: Anthocyanin equilibria, total phenolics, free and molecular SO2, “chemical age” , 1977 .

[23]  D. Fitzpatrick,et al.  Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxing activity of wine and other grape products. , 1993, The American journal of physiology.

[24]  A. Klatsky,et al.  Alcoholic beverage choice and risk of coronary artery disease mortality: do red wine drinkers fare best? , 1993, The American journal of cardiology.

[25]  B. Hornig,et al.  Vitamin C improves endothelial dysfunction of epicardial coronary arteries in hypertensive patients. , 1997, Circulation.

[26]  G. Plotnick,et al.  Effect of antioxidant vitamins on the transient impairment of endothelium-dependent brachial artery vasoactivity following a single high-fat meal. , 1997, JAMA.

[27]  T. Whitehead,et al.  Effect of red wine ingestion on the antioxidant capacity of serum. , 1995, Clinical chemistry.

[28]  Y. Kawano,et al.  Acute depressor effect of alcohol in patients with essential hypertension. , 1992, Hypertension.

[29]  J. German,et al.  Effect of red wine on endothelium-dependent relaxation in rabbits. , 1997, Clinical science.

[30]  L. Garfinkel,et al.  Alcohol Drinking and Mortality among Men Enrolled in an American Cancer Society Prospective Study , 1990, Epidemiology.