Abstract
Different alcoholic beverages can have different effects on blood alcohol concentration (BAC) and neurotoxicity, even when equalized for alcohol content by volume. Anecdotal evidence suggested that natural wine is metabolized differently from conventional wines. This triple-blind study compared the BAC of 55 healthy male subjects after consuming the equivalent of 2 units of alcohol of a natural or conventional wine over 3 min in two separate sessions, one week apart. BAC was measured using a professional breathalyzer every 20 min after consumption for 2 h. The BAC curves in response to the two wines diverged significantly at twenty minutes (interval T20) and forty minutes (interval T40), and also at their maximum concentrations (peaks), with the natural wine inducing a lower BAC than the conventional wine [T20 = 0.40 versus 0.46 (p < 0.0002); T40 = 0.49 versus 0.53 (p < 0.0015); peak = 0.52 versus 0.56 (p < 0.0002)]. These differences are likely related to the development of different amino acids and antioxidants in the two wines during their production. This may in turn affect the kinetics of alcohol absorption and metabolism. Other contributing factors could include pesticide residues, differences in dry extract content, and the use of indigenous or selected yeasts. The study shows that with the same quantity and conditions of intake, natural wine has lower pharmacokinetic and metabolic effects than conventional wine, which can be assumed due to the different agronomic and oenological practices with which they are produced. It can therefore be hypothesized that the consumption of natural wine may have a different impact on human health from that of conventional wine.
Highlights
In recent decades, wine consumption has been the subject of intense debate within the scientific community
Our findings show that the peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) in response to natural wine is lower than that with conventional wine, meaning that natural wine is less likely to lead to alcohol intoxication
The natural wine drinkers drove consistently slower and committed fewer traffic violations than those who drank conventional wine. This is the first scientific study to compare the pharmacokinetics of alcohol of a conventional wine with that of a nearly identical natural wine
Summary
Wine consumption has been the subject of intense debate within the scientific community. Wine has been linked to reduced risk for several chronic illnesses, such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and diabetes [1]. International guidelines for cancer prevention emphasize the direct correlation between alcohol intake and cancer risk [2,3]. The positive health benefits provided by wine come primarily from compounds called. When consumed regularly and moderately, ethanol, the main alcohol component in wine, confers cardioprotective effects by acting directly on cardiomyocytes, blood circulation, and platelet aggregation [5]. Ethanol and its metabolite acetaldehyde are responsible for adverse neurological, hepatic, and oncological consequences secondary to alcohol consumption [6,7]
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