Glass Of Red Wine Research Articles

A daily glass of red wine associated with lifestyle changes independently improves blood lipids in patients with carotid arteriosclerosis: results from a randomized controlled trial.

BackgroundPhysical exercise and a Mediterranean diet improve serum lipid profile. The present work studied whether red wine has an effect on top of a lipid-lowering lifestyle in patients with carotid atherosclerosis.MethodsA prospective randomised unblinded trial was performed from 2009 to 2011 in 108 patients with carotid atherosclerosis, 65% of whom were already on statin therapy with a low mean LDL of 104.9 mg/dl. Half of them were advised to follow a modified Mediterranean diet and to perform moderate physical exercise during 30 min/day (lifestyle changes) for 20 weeks. Within these two groups half of the patients were randomised either to avoid any alcohol or to drink 100 ml of red wine (women) or 200 ml of red wine (men) daily.ResultsLDL was significantly lowered by 7% in the lifestyle-changes group compared to the no-lifestyle-changes group (p = 0.0296) after 20 weeks. Lifestyle changes lowered the LDL/HDL ratio after 20 weeks by 8% (p = 0.0242) and red wine independently by 13% (p = 0.0049). The effect on LDL/HDL ratio after 20 weeks was, however, more pronounced in the non-LC group. Total cholesterol (−6%; p = 0.0238) and triglycerides (−13%; p = 0.0361) were lowered significantly by lifestyle changes after 20 weeks compared to the no-lifestyle-changes group. Lipoprotein (a) was not significantly affected by any intervention. The given results are per ITT analysis.ConclusionsLifestyle changes including a modified Mediterranean diet and physical exercise as well as a glass of red wine daily improve independently the LDL/HDL ratio in patients with carotid arteriosclerosis even though the vast majority of them was already on statin therapy.Trial registrationhttp://www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01146132

A Daily Glass of Red Wine and Lifestyle Changes Do Not Affect Arterial Blood Pressure and Heart Rate in Patients with Carotid Arteriosclerosis after 4 and 20 Weeks

Background: Regular consumption of small amounts of red wine improves blood lipids. However, there is concern whether this beneficial effect might be counterbalanced by an increase in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), which are risk factors for cerebro-cardiovascular disease. In particular, we studied whether regular consumption of red wine with and without lifestyle changes (LC; healthy diet and physical activity advice) results in an increase in BP and HR. Methods: A prospective, unblinded randomized trial was performed in 108 patients (67% men) with carotid atherosclerosis documented by ultrasound, a mean BP of 122/79 mm Hg and a mean HR of 71 bpm at inclusion in the study. Sixty-eight percent were known and treated hypertensives. The mean 24-hour BP at baseline was 122/79 mm Hg. Half of the study participants, the control group, was seen by a nurse at baseline, after 4 and after 20 weeks, and was instructed not to change their eating and physical activity habits. In the other half, a dietician performed five sessions of 30 min each (at baseline, after 1 week and after 2, 3 and 4 weeks) giving advice on healthy eating based on a Mediterranean diet and physical exercise. The recommendations given were the following: 5 portions of fruit/vegetables per day, a diet low in absolute fat, a preference of vegetable oil (olive or rapeseed oil), whole-grain products, poultry, low-fat dairy products, 1 fat and 1 lean fish meal per week, reduced consumption of red meat, and avoidance of pork, ready-made meals, sugar and excessive salt intake. In addition, regular consumption of 1 bar of dark chocolate (25 g, >70% of cacao), 1-2 tomatoes, and 3-5 walnuts as well as at least 30 min of moderate daily physical activity were recommended. Within these two groups, half of the patients were randomized either to avoid alcohol completely or to drink 100 ml (women) or 200 ml of red wine (men) daily. Results: Neither LC nor red wine had an effect on the mean systolic and diastolic 24-hour BP and HR after 4 and 20 weeks, as analyzed by general linear modeling. No difference was found for diurnal and nocturnal values. Conclusions: The possible beneficial effect of regular consumption of small amounts of red wine is not counterbalanced in the long term by an increase in the mean BP or HR in mainly normotensive and well-treated hypertensive patients with carotid atherosclerosis, neither in the patients given healthy lifestyle advice nor in those with a standard lifestyle. Yet, we remain cautious about actively advice patients to drink alcohol regularly given the well-known risks.

Consumption of alcoholic beverages and cognitive decline at middle age: the Doetinchem Cohort Study

Accelerated cognitive decline increases the risk of dementia. Slowing down the rate of cognitive decline leads to the preservation of cognitive functioning in the elderly, who can live independently for a longer time. Alcohol consumption may influence the rate of cognitive decline. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the associations between the total consumption of alcoholic beverages and different types of alcoholic beverages and cognitive decline at middle age. In 2613 men and women of the Doetinchem Cohort Study, aged 43-70 years at baseline (1995-2002), cognitive function (global cognitive function and the domains memory, speed and flexibility) was assessed twice, with a 5-year time interval. In linear regression analyses, the consumption of different types of alcoholic beverages was analysed in relation to cognitive decline, adjusting for confounders. We observed that, in women, the total consumption of alcoholic beverages was inversely associated with the decline in global cognitive function over a 5-year period (P for trend = 0·02), while no association was observed in men. Regarding the consumption of different types of alcoholic beverages in men and women together, red wine consumption was inversely associated with the decline in global cognitive function (P for trend < 0·01) as well as memory (P for trend < 0·01) and flexibility (P for trend = 0·03). Smallest declines were observed at a consumption of about 1·5 glasses of red wine per d. No other types of alcoholic beverages were associated with cognitive decline. In conclusion, only (moderate) red wine consumption was consistently associated with less strong cognitive decline. Therefore, it is most likely that non-alcoholic substances in red wine are responsible for any cognition-preserving effects.

Abstract 187: Clinically relevant efficacious doses of resveratrol induce changes in the AMPK/mTOR pathway, accompanied with senescence in preclinical models of colorectal cancer .

Abstract Resveratrol, a polyphenol present in red wine and peanuts exerts an array of beneficial effects, including anticancer activity and calorie restriction (CR) mimicry. Recent work from our laboratory has shown that low doses of resveratrol, comparable to amounts contained in a glass of red wine significantly reduced adenoma development in ApcMin mice when given with a high fat diet (Scott et al, unpublished). The protective effect was more pronounced than that caused by higher amounts, equivalent to doses used in clinical trials. The CR activity of resveratrol is mediated via the energy regulator AMP-activated kinase (AMPK). This study aims to investigate whether AMPK signalling contributes to the chemopreventive effect of resveratrol. Intestinal mucosa from female ApcMin mice maintained on a high fat diet containing resveratrol (0.00007 or 0.014% in their diet) for 10 weeks was analysed by Western blotting to assess AMPK signalling, and the induction of autophagy and senescence. For more detailed mechanistic interrogation APC10.1 cells originally derived from adenomas of ApcMin mice were incubated with resveratrol (0.001-10μM) for 6 days and protein expression examined. The extent of AMPK activation in vivo correlated with the degree of adenoma inhibition; AMPK expression and phosphorylation was evident in mucosa of resveratrol treated mice, but not in control animals, with highest levels in those that ingested the low dose. This chronic resveratrol treatment was also associated with increased expression of p21, a biomarker of senescence, particularly at the low dose. In APC10.1 cells resveratrol caused significant increases in AMPK phosphorylation at 0.01, 0.1 and 1μM, but not at 10μM, consistent with a bell-shaped dose-response. Activity was accompanied by significantly reduced phosphorylation of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which is regulated by AMPK signalling, plus its downstream targets p70S6K and 4E-BP1. Furthermore, these concentrations also increased autophagy and senescence, as measured by LC3-II and p21 expression, respectively, and greater numbers of senescence-associated β-galactosidase positive cells. The results suggest that activation of AMPK signalling and the induction of senescence may contribute to the cancer chemopreventive effects of resveratrol at dietary relevant intakes. Citation Format: Abeer O. Kholghi. Clinically relevant efficacious doses of resveratrol induce changes in the AMPK/mTOR pathway, accompanied with senescence in preclinical models of colorectal cancer . [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 187. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-187

Nightwoods (review)

Reviewed by: Nightwoods Wayne Caldwell (bio) Charles Frazier . Nightwoods. New York: Random House Publishing, 2011. 272 pages. Hardback in dust jacket. $26.00. This sixty-something ex-academic Appalachian novelist has not world enough and time to read everything in print. So to say I've read Nightwoods twice and am likely to take it up again is high praise—for another sixty-something ex-academic Appalachian novelist, Charles Frazier. I have heard him wish people would read his work as carefully as he writes it. He means, I trust, not that we should spend years reading this novel (three published novels in fourteen years isn't glacial but ain't exactly fast). I think he wants us to react as I did, and stop, often, to read aloud for pure appreciation and pleasure. Listen to a mountain sunset: Luce poured two glasses of red wine from a basement bottle with a mildewed French label. Old and awfully good and autumnal in the November sundown with frost-bit apples still hanging from bare limbs in the orchard and a fingernail radius of yellow moon following the sun to the horizon. Leaves covered the grass. Something yet trilled in the woods, a final katydid or frog. A bite in the air, and not a cloud in the sky. (197) Or the shock of an unexpected image: —How are you doing? said Bud. —Hanging in there, like a hair in a biscuit. (111) (My inner writer said, "That's great!" My inner reader gagged.) Or arch humor (this noir novel, although a grim tale, is often slap-your-leg funny): His claim to fame, other than not wearing socks with his Weejuns, was that for an entire semester he had lived in the dorm room right next to the one Poe had occupied. (34) [End Page 90] Later, the butt of a joke provides the punch line: "Appalachian humor?" (92) Yep. The tale is straightforward. Ingredients? Luce, in a small North Carolina mountain town in the early nineteen-sixties, takes in her murdered sister Lily's damaged twin children, Dolores and Frank. The murderer, Lily's husband Bud, is loose and looking for loot he had stolen and thinks has somehow passed to Luce. Bud becomes a bootlegger and takes up with Lit, Luce's father, a violent, strung-out deputy whose only resemblance to Barney Fife is size. Add a man named Stubblefield, inheritor of Luce's digs, who takes a shine to her. Mix, and we have an almost Shakespearian formula for violence, love, and mayhem. (Mayberry this ain't, either for wholesomeness or stereotypes. This book works well partly because, although each character could be cast in a whodunit, romance, or hillbilly farce—"B" movie material—they will not be confined to such a mold.) Frazier's characters are aptly named. Luce, initially, is ambiguous: is she "loose," or "Lucy?" Later finding her name is Lucinda, we nod and smile, for she provides a tad of light for these menacing nightwoods. Luce's father, Lit (Frazier says it's short for "Little," but I prefer the past tense of "light," as in "I lit a fire," "I lit out for the high country," or "I lit into her with a stick of stovewood") spends a great deal of time "lit" on uppers. Bud tries to be (what else?) a pal to Lit. (I'm tempted to free-associate to Bud Light, but that's stony ground.) One would not seek Bud as a close friend. He was early traumatized by fundamentalists raving about the blood of Jesus, which "mattered above all else, the sacred shedding of it. The rest of Christ's life . . . became incidental compared to the dark artery offering that covered the globe." (17) Farther along, Frazier gives us this insight: Bud . . . dreamed one of his favorite innocent clarifying dreams involving Jesus's blood bathing the world and making it fresh and clean. It was like the picture on the paint can . . . ." (42) Jesus as a Sherwin-Williams ad! This Bud's theology is not for you. The "stranger children," Dolores and Frank—Sorrow and Truth—Frazier renders with absolutely no sentimentality. Rooster killers and arsonists, mute...

Raising a glass of red wine against cancer, or not?

Raising a glass of red wine against cancer, or not?

Is Moderate Red Wine Consumption Safe in Inactive Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Background: Alcohol consumption is a potential trigger for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flare because of alcohol-induced oxidative stress and its deleterious effects on gut barrier function. Additionally, we have recently shown that alcohol consumption is associated with more symptoms in IBD. However, it is not known whether moderate daily alcohol consumption can modify IBD disease activity. To test what effects alcohol may have on patients with IBD, we evaluated the effect of moderate daily red wine for 1 week on two factors associated with recurrent IBD disease activity: intestinal permeability and stool calprotectin. Methods: To assess the effects of moderate daily alcohol consumption on intestinal permeability and inflammation, we recruited 21 patients: 8 with inactive ulcerative colitis (UC), 6 with inactive Crohn’s disease (CD), and 7 healthy controls. All participants with IBD completed a validated questionnaire on disease activity (Crohn’s disease activity index or ulcerative colitis clinical activity index), to confirm they had inactive disease. All subjects then underwent a baseline assessment that included a blood draw, urine collection after sugar challenge, and stool collection. Subjects then consumed 1–3 glasses of red wine a day for 1 week (approx. 0.4 g EtOH/kg), and repeated the three measures. Results: No subjects flared during the study. Moderate alcohol consumption did not significantly change either clinical disease activity scores or C-reactive protein. In contrast to healthy subjects, daily consumption of red wine significantly (1) decreased stool calprotectin in IBD subjects from baseline (p = 0.001) and (2) increased intestinal permeability as measured by urinary lactulose/mannitol excretion (marker of small bowel permeability) in CD (p = 0.028) or urinary sucralose secretion (marker of large bowel permeability) in UC (p = 0.012). Conclusions: One week of moderate consumption of red wine in inactive IBD was associated with a significant decrease in stool calprotectin and a significant increase in intestinal permeability. Our data suggests that patients with inactive IBD who drink red wine daily may be at an increased long-term risk for disease relapse.

A glass of red wine to keep vascular disease at bay, but what about pemphigus vulgaris?

Pemphigus vulgaris is a rare autoimmune blistering disease, involving the skin and mucous epithelia, which is characterized by flaccid blisters and erosions. It is caused by the presence of autoantibodies directed against desmoglein, a glycoprotein that plays a critical role in cell–cell attachment. Upon a predisposing genetic background, different agents have been shown to act as triggers for the pathogenesis of pemphigus. The most evident association is with drug intake, while the role of diet is often underestimated. The aim of this article is to review the possible role of tannins, a group of phenolic metabolites that are widely distributed in almost all plant foods and beverages, particularly red wine, as a trigger for pemphigus vulgaris.

Sleeping on a Royal Flush

Sleeping on a Royal Flush

Plant Polyphenols: Chemical Properties, Biological Activities, and Synthesis

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day! This is what is highly recommended and heavily advertised nowadays to the general public to stay fit and healthy! Drinking green tea on a regular basis, eating chocolate from time to time, as well as savoring a couple of glasses of red wine per day have been claimed to increase life expectancy even further! Why? The answer is in fact still under scientific scrutiny, but a particular class of compounds naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables is considered to be crucial for the expression of such human health benefits: the polyphenols! What are these plant products really? What are their physicochemical properties? How do they express their biological activity? Are they really valuable for disease prevention? Can they be used to develop new pharmaceutical drugs? What recent progress has been made toward their preparation by organic synthesis? This Review gives answers from a chemical perspective, summarizes the state of the art, and highlights the most significant advances in the field of polyphenol research.

Noah's nectar: The proteome content of a glass of red wine

Combinatorial peptide ligand libraries (CPLLs) have been adopted for harvesting and identifying traces of proteins present in red wines. Surprisingly, although it is stated that red wines are in general fined with egg albumin, for all Italian wines investigated (in the areas around Chiari and Verona as well as in the Chianti area) we find that the only fining agent used is bovine casein, just like in white wines. Although the typical levels of casein found range between 45 to 85μg/L, in one case as little as 3.8μg/L of casein could be detected, an extremely high level of sensitivity, close to our lower detection limit of 1μg/L reported for white wines. As a result of such treatments, very small amounts of residual proteins in red wines could be identified: essentially no residual grape proteins (except for thaumatin), but only traces of proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and a few proteins from plant pathogens and fungi (e.g., Botryotinia fuckeliana, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Aspergillus aculeatus). Contrary to what has been found in white wines, the best capture efficiency with CPLLs has occurred at pH 7.2 and pH 9.3, with minimal capture at pH 3.3. The fact that such very low levels of fining agents can still be detected in treated red wines should be taken into consideration by winemakers in labelling their products and by EC rulers in issuing proper regulations.

Simple Changes in Diet and Exercise: A Longitudinal, Retrospective Analysis

Synopsis: Residency training limits opportunities for physical activity. Given the many hours spent at the hospital, there are also often limited choices regarding healthy food choices. These factors can contribute to adverse effects on the lipid profile. At the end of residency, the author was overweight and had a less than ideal lipid profile. Purpose: This study strives to show that simple changes in diet and exercise can have dramatic effects in regard to lipid profile. Methods: This retrospective analysis looks at a baseline lipid profile from 1998 (at the end of residency training) and monitors changes over time. Baseline measures are compared to the most recent values from November 2009. Results: Triglyceride levels decreased 69% from baseline levels. In addition, HDL-C levels increased 90% from the initial value. Weight loss of approximately 10 lbs was observed during the time period of the study. Conclusions: As clinicians, we give lifestyle advice to patients on a daily basis regarding improving particular aspects of their lipid profile. This study suggests simple changes in routine can make a big difference. Twice weekly aerobic exercise session of 30–40 minutes and simple changes in diet: 1) avoiding saturated fat and red meat; 2) eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; 3) having an occasional glass of red wine; and 4) adding soy protein to the diet can all significantly improve the lipid profile and likely reduce cardiometabolic risk.

Swim, Memory

Swim, Memory Megan Nix (bio) Leaving New Orleans when hurricanes threatened was a joke. The one year I left town, my friends who stayed in town called me from their barbeque at the levee where the sun was coming through rainbows and rain. Other years, when we learned to stay, we put peanut butter on tortillas when we lost electricity, and listened to palm trees rake futilely at the windows. Post-storm damage only ever amounted to: shredded branches strewn across the streets, power lines hanging like lions’ tails, and enough standing water to gently push a canoe through with an oar. So, the day before the worst storm we could never even imagine, before we knew we were leaving, my brother Michael said, “Let’s take pictures of places that might end up underwater.” I said, “Don’t you think that’s kind of morbid?” And my roommate Kate said, “As long as we can get daiquiris first.” The only place I know of where you can get drive-thru daiquiris is New Orleans. As long as the seal isn’t broken where you poke through with a straw, you’re not drinking and driving. You’re holding and driving and peeling back the lid and gulping. Two very different things. I wasn’t driving, anyway. I drank my frozen White Russian in the back of my own car, and looked at my straw-haired brother in the rearview as he punctured the top of the cup. Kate’s face shone like Kahlua and cream in the side mirror, and I gave her a raised-eyebrows look from above my sunglasses when she said, “Hurricane? I ain’t scared.” When she saw me looking at her, I pushed my oversized shades back up on my nose and watched what we were supposed to remember. [End Page 1] First, we went up to the levee, to the stretch of grass where spiced fingers hoisted handfuls of red crawfish from 30-gallon tin pots, dogs dripping with river ran through bikinied screamers, and old men with long hair blew their harmonicas against the backdrop of the wide gray water. Our initials are still on the planks above the river: MN, MN, KP. There are snakes under those planks, and river rats, and rocks painted with new paw prints. Curled limbs from every northern city on the Mississippi rush through its eddies. We threw twigs at the passing driftwood. Quincy, my red dog, swam just so far into and out of the saddles of water that he knew he’d come back. Animals know their bounds better than us. Flanking the non-river side of the uptown levee are the train tracks and the Audubon Zoo. Later, they would load zebras, alligators, elephants, orangutans, giraffes, black bears, pythons, and wolves onto freight cars, some holding each others’ tails like hands, others screaming in their confusion like a modern-day Noah’s Ark. Or that was one version of the story. We didn’t know about the myths that would surface yet, not when we were taking pictures. We didn’t know the photos would never get developed. Kate, holding a glass of red wine, framed herself in the yellow doorway of my bedroom and parted the smell of sautéed onions and cheese. “What do you want to do?” she asked. Decisiveness is stubborn when it feels a summoning. I looked at Quincy, who was looking at me with his head on his crossed paws, and I felt, despite the hassle of packing and the uselessness of most evacuations, that everything in my body was saying: Run, run. In 1864, P. O. Hebert, the state engineer, warned New Orleanians and their governors that the city either needed better protection, or they needed to breach a series of openings in the Mississippi to let out the building pressure. “We are every year confining this immense river closer and closer to its own bed, forgetting that it is fed by over 1500 streams—and regardless of a danger becoming every year more and more impending,” he stated in his Report on the Drainage of the City of New Orleans. One thousand five hundred streams...

Robert Griffiths Hodgins (27 June 1920–15 March 2010) Remembering a life well lived

The accompanying photograph was taken in December 2009, about three months before Robert Hodgins passed away. Together with his close friend, Jan Neethling, and Giles Battiss, he came for brunch on my terrace one Sunday morning. Although frail, Rob had a healthy appetite that morning and was in high spirits. Our brunch reminded him of Sundays some 30 years ago when it was customary to visit friends on a Sunday morning, lounge around all day, eat and drink, braai and swim, and then end off the day with several glasses of red wine in the late afternoon.

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome: a possible cause of symptomatic hyperckaemia

A 41-year-old male presented to our hospital with complaints of muscle pain and stiffness in proximal muscles of 2 years with elevated creatinphosphokinase (CK). He had been previously studied in...

Regular Moderate Intake of Red Wine Is Linked to a Better Women's Sexual Health

While some evidence does exist for a positive correlation between moderate wine intake and men's sexual health, there is no study addressing the potential correlation between red wine intake and women's sexual function. The aim of our study was to assess whether there is a tie between daily red wine intake and sexual function in a sample of healthy Italian women, living in the Chianti area (Tuscany) not complaining of any sexual disorders. We recruited 798 women (age 18-50), living in the Chianti area (Tuscany), not complaining of any sexual disorders. We divided the participants into three groups: daily moderate (one to two glasses) red wine intake (group 1); teetotallers (group 2); and daily intake of more than two glasses of red wine and/or other types of alcoholic drinks (including white wine), as well as of those reporting occasional drinking (group 3). All participants completed anonymously the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire and were asked to report on their amount and type of alcohol consumption. Group 1 had significantly higher total (P = 0.001), as well as desire and lubrication domain (P = 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively) FSFI scores than participants in groups 2 and 3. No significant differences between the groups were observed concerning sexual arousal, satisfaction, pain, and orgasm. Univariate analysis showed a significant correlation between age, alcohol consumption (P = 0.009), and a better score at questionnaire examination. During multivariate analysis, alcohol consumption was identified as an independent prognostic parameter (P = 0.002) in predicting the better score at questionnaire examination. The finding that regular moderate intake of red wine is associated with higher FSFI scores for both sexual desire, lubrication, and overall sexual function as compared to the teetotaller status is intriguing. While this finding needs to be interpreted with some caution, because of the small sample size, self-reported data, and the lack of support from laboratory exams, it nevertheless suggests a potential relationship between red wine consumption and better sexuality.

Cultural, socioeconomic and nutritional determinants of functional food consumption patterns

The aim of our research was to describe cultural, socioeconomic and nutritional determinants associated with functional food consumption. Cross-sectional design in 5000 military men. Using mailed questionnaires, the functional food consumption frequency was recorded. Margarines fortified with phytosterols or phytostanols were used on a daily basis by 26.3% of the responders. Only 4.7% took a daily portion of probiotics, whereas 14.0% consumed one or more portions of nuts a week. One man out of three consumed one cup of tea daily, whereas 10.2% consumed one glass of red wine daily. Three or more portions of fruit a day were consumed by 19.1%, and two or more portions of vegetables a day by 26.6%. Only 12.3% consumed a portion of fatty fish weekly. After adjustment for age, body mass index, physical activity, use of vitamin supplements, smoking, marital status, cultural background, educational and income level, the daily consumption of fortified margarines increased with age. The consumption of fermented dairy products increased with physical activity and with the use of vitamin supplements. The consumption of fortified margarines, nuts, tea and fatty fish was strongly influenced by cultural background, with higher consumptions for Flemish-speaking men compared with French-speaking persons. Daily consumption of red wine was higher in French-speaking men and in higher educated men. Finally, functional food consumption was associated with a healthy dietary pattern. Age, physical activity, level of education, use of vitamin supplements and cultural background are predictors of functional food consumption patterns.

Effect of red wine on urinary protein, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine, and liver-type fatty acid–binding protein excretion in patients with diabetic nephropathy

The aim of the present study was to determine whether red or white wine affects urinary protein, 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and liver-type fatty acid–binding protein (L-FABP) excretion in type 2 diabetic nephropathy patients. Twenty-four type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with nephropathy were randomly allocated to drink a 118-mL (4-oz) glass of red wine (n = 12, group A) or white wine (n = 12, group B) daily for 6 months. Twelve type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with nephropathy who did not drink any wines served as control subjects (group C). Serum creatinine, 24-hour creatinine clearance, hemoglobin A 1c, urinary protein, urinary 8-OHdG, and urinary L-FABP were measured before and 3 and 6 months after the start of the study. In groups A, B, and C, serum creatinine, 24-hour creatinine clearance, and hemoglobin A 1c changed little during the experimental period. However, urinary protein, 8-OHdG, and L-FABP excretions were significantly decreased at 3 ( P < .05) and 6 months ( P < .01) compared with the baseline values in group A. In contrast, these markers changed little during the experimental period in groups B and C. Thus, these urinary markers were significantly lower in group A than in groups B and C at 3 and 6 months. These results suggest that red wine is renoprotective whereas white wine has no such effect in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with nephropathy. The renoprotective effect of red wine may be due in part to its ability to reduce oxidative stress.

A glass of red wine to improve mitochondrial biogenesis? Novel mechanisms of resveratrol

numerous epidemiological studies demonstrated an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced coronary heart disease. Red wine, especially, is shown to be protective against numerous cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Frankel et al. ([5][1]) demonstrated that red wine polyphenols

No Difference Between Red Wine or White Wine Consumption and Breast Cancer Risk

Epidemiologic studies have reported an increased risk of breast cancer among women who drink alcohol, including wine ([1][1], [2][2]) Two meta-analyses estimated a ∼10% [95% confidence interval (CI), 5-15%] increased risk of breast cancer with each additional 10 grams (∼1 drink) of alcohol/day