Red Wine Can Neutralize The Short-Term Negative Effect Of Cigarette Smoking -- Research

As many would know, smoking cigarette can cause several health problems. Now, researchers were able to find that drinking red wine before smoking can neutralize the short-term negative effect of cigarette smoking.

A new study shows that cigarette smoking can cause acute endothelial damage, vascular and systemic inflammation, as well as cellular aging. However, experts found that the red wine can stimulate the construction of the endothelium-dependent relaxation factors such as nitric oxide that improves the endothelial function in coronary arteries. The possibility of which is that the red win contains a high phenol concentration.

Lead study investigator Viktoria Schwarz, MD, from the University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany, explained that "However, sparse data exist on the short term potential vasoprotective effects of red wine in smoking healthy individuals. The aim of our study was to investigate the acute vascular effects of red wine consumption prior to 'occasional lifestyle smoking' in healthy individuals. We found evidence that pre-consumption of red wine prevented most of the vascular injury caused by smoking," as quoted by Science Daily.

In the study, the researchers gathered 20 non-smoking volunteers and examined the biochemical process in the vessels and blood. The participants volunteered to smoke three cigarettes. Ten of them drank red wine an hour before smoking. The amount of red wine that they drink is 0.75 percent blood alcohol content. Urine and blood were collected before the experiment began and continued until 18 hours after smoking, according to Medical Xpress.

As a result, "We observed acute proinflammatory changes, namely, neutrophilia, leukocytosis, upregulated levels of IL-6 in serum, and enhanced messenger RNA expression of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Our study adds to the present evidence that the proinflammatory effects in nonsmokers with 'occasional lifestyle smoking' could be prevented by red wine consumption," Dr. Schwarz said.

However, the researchers noted that the study was limited only to healthy young non-smokers. It is not yet clear if the results are applicable to the chronic, ill and the elderly smokers. The findings are published in the American Journal Of Medicine.