Wine polyphenols and promotion of cardiac health

Abstract

Wine polyphenols are considered to have beneficial effects on CHD and atherosclerosis. The consumption of red wine is high in Italy and France, approximately four times greater than that in the UK. This disparity in red wine consumption is thought to be the reason for the 'French paradox', where France was shown to have a coronary mortality rate close to that of China or Japan despite saturated fat intakes and cholesterol levels similar to the UK and USA. In the present review, we discuss the effects of wine and some of its polyphenol constituents on early pathological indicators of CHD such as plasma lipids, the endothelium and vasculature, platelets and serum antioxidant activity. The review also examines whether the polyphenols or the alcohol in wine is responsible for the effects on markers of heart disease. The present review concludes that red wine polyphenols have little effect on plasma lipid concentrations but wine consumption appears to reduce the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation and increase serum antioxidant capacity. However, these effects do depend on the amount of wine and period of supplementation. Authors who have examined specific polyphenols suggest that some phenolics appear to have endothelium-dependent vaso-relaxing abilities and some a positive effect on NO concentrations. Red wine phenolics also have an inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation, and individual phenolics also have a similar effect in vitro, although it should be noted that there are often discrepancies as large as ten-fold between the concentrations of polyphenolics tested in vitro and their measured levels in vivo. Evidence suggests that alcohol has a positive synergistic effect with wine polyphenols on some atherosclerotic risk factors. Thus evidence that wine drinking is beneficial for cardiac health continues to accumulate but more research is required to understand fully and exactly the functions of red wine polyphenols.Wine polyphenols: Coronary heart disease: Alcohol: Antioxidants Abbreviations: CETP, cholesteryl ester transfer protein; oxLDL, oxidised LDL.

Comparison of the phenolic content and total antioxidant activity in wines as determined by spectrophotometric methods

“…Wine consumption reduces the susceptibility of LDL to oxidation which is important for the prevention of arteriosclerosis development. A moderate wine consumption also increases serum antioxidant capacity (Cooper et al 2004). A favourable influence on the reduction of cancer incidence and on chronic inflammatory diseases, the development of both being associated with oxygen free radical, is probable as well (Scalbert et al 2005).…”

Isolation of Catechin and Gallic Acid from Colombian Bark of Pinus patula

“…These compounds have earned a reputation for their activity in plants, in defense against insect attacks and in microbial diseases. It is believed that procyanidins can protect from cardiovascular diseases [18,19]. Pinus bark has shown to have antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, and cardio-cerebrovascular protective effects, among others [9,20].…”

A Comparative Study of Analytical Methods for Determination of Polyphenols in Wine by HPLC/UV-Vis, Spectrophotometry and Chemiluminometry

“…(Cooper et al, 2004;Opie  Lecour, 2007). The most intriguing are the studies which reported the possible association between red wine consumption and decrease in risk, and some suppression and inhibition of cancers (Briviba et al, 2002).…”