A multicenter study led by researchers from the University of Barcelona, the Hospital Clínic, the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBEROBN), and the University of Navarra (UNAV) has found that light and moderate consumption of wine is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular complications. Published in the European Heart Journal, the study analyzed a biomarker of wine intake, specifically tartaric acid present in grapes. It was carried out among 1,232 participants in the PREDIMED project, a significant scientific epidemiological study on the effects of the Mediterranean diet on cardiovascular health.
The researchers noted, “There is no doubt that excessive alcohol consumption has serious health consequences. However, the effects of moderate and responsible wine consumption are still a subject of debate within the scientific community. The results of this study and others should help to position moderate wine consumption appropriately as an element of the Mediterranean diet, which is considered the healthiest in the world.”
The principal authors of the study include Inés Domínguez from the UB’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences and the Nutrition and Food Safety Research Institute (INSA); Ramon Estruch, a professor from the UB’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and IDIBAPS; Rosa María Lamuela, a professor and ICREA Academia member and part of INSA; and Miguel ángel Martínez from the University of Navarra (UNAV), all of whom are members of CIBEROBN.
Currently, there is significant controversy regarding the health effects of moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages in general and wine in particular. Ramon Estruch emphasizes that “part of this debate stems from conflicting results of studies, with some indicating a protective effect of wine while others finding no such effect.” These discrepancies could be due to possible errors in wine consumption records. “Epidemiological studies evaluating the role of wine in the rate of cardiovascular events often rely on self-reported information about wine consumption.
These are reliable data, but are subject to measurement errors because of inaccurate recall or biased perceptions about the social desirability of drinking alcoholic beverages,” he explains. To address this issue, the researchers in this study measured wine consumption through food intake frequency surveys, which they then verified using an objective biomarker: the concentration of tartaric acid found in urine. Tartaric acid is a molecule mainly produced in grapes and rarely synthesized by other plant species.
Using this methodology, the study analyzed wine consumption and cardiovascular outcomes in a cohort of PREDIMED patients. In total, 1,232 participants were evaluated, including 685 who had a cardiovascular event (such as cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or heart failure) and 625 who were randomly selected.
Analysis of the data reveals that light wine consumption (ranging from one glass per week to less than half a glass per day) reduces the risk of having a cardiovascular complication by 38%. However, when consumption is moderate (between half a glass and one glass per day), this reduction reaches 50%. It’s important to note that when consumption exceeds one drink per day, the protective effect vanishes. The researchers also caution that “when we talk about moderate wine consumption, it is always with meals, never between meals.”
Despite these conclusions, Inés Domínguez points out that “the observational design of the study limits the ability to establish causality,” and the experts stress that more research is needed. “The results of cohort studies should always be confirmed for greater certainty,” they say. In this regard, they suggest two potential courses of action. The first involves designing randomized nutritional intervention studies by randomly assigning participants to groups with different wine consumption levels.
“These are very expensive studies to conduct. There is one underway now, but the results will still take four to five years,” they add. The second is to study the mechanisms underlying the protective effects of wine on the cardiovascular system, such as researching the anti-inflammatory power of wine polyphenols like resveratrol and other phenolic compounds. “Knowing the mechanisms gives a lot of plausibility to the results of epidemiological cohort studies,” they conclude.
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