N. Pellegrini et al., EFFECTS OF MODERATE CONSUMPTION OF RED WINE ON PLATELET-AGGREGATION AND HEMOSTATIC VARIABLES IN HEALTHY-VOLUNTEERS, European journal of clinical nutrition, 50(4), 1996, pp. 209-213
Objective: To evaluate the effect of moderate consumption of red wine
on platelet aggregation and haemostatic variables, discriminating the
effect of alcohol from that of non-alcoholic components. Design: A ran
domised crossover study.Setting: The Department of Food Science and Te
chnology, University of Milan. Subjects: Eleven healthy male volunteer
s who were moderate drinkers. Interventions: For three periods of four
weeks, subjects drank three different beverages [320 mi of red wine (
providing 30 g/day of alcohol), 30 g/day of alcohol diluted in 320 ml
of clear fruit juice or 320 ml of dealcoholised red wine] during the t
wo main meals. Each treatment was preceded by a period of four weeks o
f complete withdrawal from any alcoholic beverage. At the end of each
period platelet aggregation after collagen and ADP stimulus, and level
s of fibrinogen, plasminogen, tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA)
antigen and von Willebrand factor (vWF) were determined. Results: Con
sumption for a period of four weeks of 30 g/day of alcohol either from
red wine or alcohol resulted in similar decreases of collagen-induced
platelet aggregation and fibrinogen levels. ADP-induced platelet aggr
egation, t-PA antigen, vWF and plasminogen levels were not affected by
any treatment. No differences were detected when we compared platelet
function and the other haemostatic variables at the end of red wine a
nd dealcoholised treatments with findings at the end of alcohol treatm
ent and abstinence. Conclusions: The well known positive effect of mod
erate consumption of red wine on haemostasis seems due to alcohol and
not to the non-alcoholic fraction present in red wine.