Moderate alcohol consumption reduces plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels; a randomized, diet-controlled intervention study

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the acute phase proteins C-reactive protein and fibrinogen. Design: Randomized, diet-controlled, cross-over study. Setting: The study was performed at TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, The Netherlands. Subjects: Ten middle-aged men and 10 postmenopausal women, all apparently healthy, non-smoking and moderate alcohol drinkers, were included. One women dropped out because of a treatment-unrelated cause. The remaining 19 subjects finished the experiment successfully. Interventions: Men consumed four glasses and women consumed three glasses of beer or no-alcohol beer (control) with evening dinner during two successive periods of 3 weeks. The total diet was supplied to the subjects and had essentially the same composition during these 6 weeks. Before each treatment there was a 1 week washout period to compensate for possible carry-over effects. Results: Plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels were decreased by 35% (P ¼ 0.02) and 12.4% (P 0.001), respectively, after 3 weeks' consumption of beer, as compared to no-alcohol beer consumption. Conclusions: Moderate alcohol consumption significantly decreased plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels. An antiinflammatory action of alcohol may help explain the link between moderate alcohol consumption and lower cardiovascular disease risk.

Obesity Is an Important Determinant of Baseline Serum C-Reactive Protein Concentration in Monozygotic Twins, Independent of Genetic Influences

“…14,58 -60 To our knowledge, only one small randomized study has examined the effect of alcohol on CRP levels, demonstrating a 35% reduction after 3 weeks, although only significant in women. 61 In contrast to our recent report that increased insulin sensitivity in moderate alcohol consumers was partly mediated by lower central fat, 32 the association between light-tomoderate alcohol consumption and lower CRP levels in the current study persisted after controlling for adiposity. Because CRP is a known predictor of cardiovascular risk, these observations raise the possibility that the reported cardioprotection associated with moderate alcohol consumption 62 may be partly mediated through alcohol-induced downregulation of coronary artery inflammation, perhaps by reducing hepatic CRP production.…”

Effects of moderate Sicilian red wine consumption on inflammatory biomarkers of atherosclerosis

“…CRP is an acute phase protein that among the markers of inflammation is today considered an independent risk factor in the development of thromboembolic complications (Di Garbo et al, 2000). For several years now, inflammation has been identified with a crucial phase in the early development and growth of atherosclerotic lesions, because -apart from favouring the development of platelets -it may cause their rupture (Imfof et al, 2001;Sierksma et al, 2002). It is well known that platelet rupture is crucial in the development of acute coronary syndromes.…”

Alcohol consumption and risk of microvascular complications in type 1 diabetes patients: the EURODIAB Prospective Complications Study

“…These results suggest an additional favourable effect of drinking moderate amounts of wine, apart from the effect of alcohol itself. Alcohol itself has favourable effects on HDL-cholesterol, inflammation and inhibition of platelet aggregation [21,22]. The additional favourable influences of wine may be due to phenols, which may decrease platelet aggregation and inhibit HDL-cholesterol oxidation [23].…”