Alcohol, ischemic heart disease, and the french paradox

Abstract

Summary:Many studies have shown either an inverse relation between alcohol intake and ischemic heart disease or a U-shaped curve in which the equivalent of two drinks per day of any kind of alcohol is associated with a decreased incidence of coronary disease compared with no drinks, while higher doses result in an increased risk of infarction and stroke. Although the cardioprotective effects of most alcoholic beverages are probably due to an elevation of high-density lipoprotein as well as the ability of alcohol to prevent platelet aggregation and increased fibrinolysis, there is an increased favorable effect of red wine. The unique cardioprotective properties of red wine reside in the action of flavonoids which are absent in white wine (with the exception of champagne) and sparse in beer (with the exception of dark beers). The best researched flavonoids are resveritrol and quercetin, which confer antioxidant properties more potent than alpha-tocopherol. Grape juice has about half the amount of flavonoids by volume as does red wine.

Resveratrol, a Polyphenolic Compound Found in Wine, Inhibits Tissue Factor Expression in Vascular Cells

“…Although the cardioprotective effects of most alcoholic beverages are probably because of ethanol-induced elevation of HDLs 35,36 and lowering of platelet aggregation, 37,38 factors other than ethanol in alcohol-containing beverages may also be responsible for the protective effect of alcoholic beverages. 7,39,40 Resveratrol, a phenolic compound found primarily in the skin of grapes and relatively abundant in red wine, has been thought to be one such factor because it has been shown to have antioxidant 6 and antiplatelet 8,14 activities. However, in-depth knowledge on whether and how resveratrol provides the protective effect against heart disease is lacking.…”

Red wine but not ethanol at low doses can protect against the toxicity of methamphetamine

“…Most, biochemical studies in the literature concerning alcohol have used moderate to high doses to better understand its mechanism of action. There are some reports suggesting that at a low concentration, alcohol may be beneficial by detoxification of oxidant free radicals (Constant, 1997). However, at high concentrations it can act as a pro-oxidant by various means including induction of the mixed function oxidase CYP2E1 (Wu and Cederbaum, 2005), and formation of peroxynitrite (Yang et al, 2008).…”

In Vitro evaluation of the cytotoxic and anti-proliferative properties of resveratrol and several of its analogs

“…Among these agents, transresveratrol (RES) may contribute to the protective effect of red wine believed to underlie the French Paradox [2][3][4][5]. Whereas definitive human clinical trials would be required to confirm a role for RES in the French Paradox, many other types of studies have shown that RES exhibits potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-proliferative, cardioprotective and chemopreventive properties [6][7][8][9].…”