Register for Red wine against smoking
Nicotine AddictionSeptember 24, 2003
In a study recently presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress, researchers showed that the constituents of red wine, other than alcohol, counteracted acute arterial dysfunction that is present after smoking one cigarette.
"Our findings showed that two glasses (250 ml) of red wine suspend the harmful effect of one cigarette and leads us to further investigate constituents of red wine that could reverse arterial dysfunction caused by smoking," said John Lekakis, department of clinical therapeutics, Alexandra University Hospital, Athens.
The study was performed at the vascular laboratory of Alexandra Hospital in 16 healthy adults. Researchers assessed their arterial function in three occasions: a) after smoking one cigarette, b) after drinking two glasses of red wine and smoking one cigarette and finally c) after drinking two glasses of red wine without alcohol and smoking one cigarette.
For this purpose they used a famous Greek red wine, rich in polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants, and removed the alcohol without affecting any other constituent, producing nonalcoholic red wine, also used in the study.
The researchers previously tested the two types of wine for their constitution and sensory characteristics and concluded that the two wines had similar flavor, color and taste and similar amounts of their constituents, except from their alcohol content. This means that volunteers could not distinguish which type of red wine they consumed each time.
"The results of the study confirmed previous findings at the same laboratory that after smoking one cigarette and for the following 60 minutes there is a significant arterial dysfunction," Lekakis said. "However, simultaneous consumption of either regular red wine or nonalcoholic red wine with smoking one cigarette didn't cause any such dysfunction. These observations led us to speculate that either type of red wine counteracted smoke's arterial harmful effect. Since the presence or absence of alcohol on the two types of wine didn't influence the results, we can conclude that constituents of red wine other than alcohol are responsible for the reversal of arterial dysfunction caused by smoking.
"It is very important that the meaning of our findings is not misinterpreted, as two glasses of wine counteracted acute smoking of one cigarette, Lekakis emphasized. "This doesn't prove that regular consumption of red wine could possibly attenuate the harmful effect of chronic smoking. In addition, it is not wise to believe that a smoker could use two glasses of red wine for every cigarette he smoked in order to protect his vessels. What is more important is the fact that in the acute phase, red wine contains substances that are so powerful as to counteract the harmful effect of smoking on arterial function. This is very useful for the understanding of the mechanisms through which smoking induces arterial dysfunction and subsequent cardiovascular disease and hopeful for the discovery of substances capable of reversing smokes harmful effects."
It is essential that future studies define which specific component or components of red wine are responsible for the reversal of smoke's acute harmful effects and possibly enable large trials to investigate protection against habitual smoking, the researchers noted. This article was prepared by Health & Medicine Week editors from staff and other reports.
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