Search resultsThe relationship between wine consumption and vascular risk: From epidemiological evidence to biological plausibility
Epidemiological studies have suggested that vascular disease morbidity and mortality can be decreased by moderate alcohol consumption. A meta-analysis has been recently performed on 19 of these studies, selected on the basis of the availability of specific information on the relative risk associated with wine consumption. The results strongly favour the protective role of moderate (up to 300 mL per day) wine consumption against the risk of vascular events. Although some cardioprotective effects of most alcoholic beverages are probably due to ethanol-induced elevation of HDL-cholesterol, lowering of fibrinogen plasma levels and, perhaps, of platelet aggregation, it is reasonable to speculate that the vascular protective effects of wine, observed in French and in other populations, may be attributed in part also to the antioxidant, vasorelaxant, and antithrombotic properties of its polyphenolic components.