Does a glass of red wine improve endothelial function?

Aims To examine the acute effect of red wine and de-alcoholized red wine on endothelial function. Methods and Results High frequency ultrasound was used to measure blood flo w and percentage brachial artery dilatation after reactive hyperaemia induc ed by forearm cuff occlusion in 12 healthy subjects, less than 40 years of age, without known cardiovascular risk factors. The subjects drank 250 mi o f red wine with or without alcohol over 10 min according to a randomized pr ocedure. Brachial artery dilatation was measured again 30 and 60 min after the subjects had finished drinking. The subjects were studied a second time within a week of the first study in a cross-over design. After the red win e with alcohol the resting brachial artery diameter, resting blood flow, he art rate and plasma-ethanol increased significantly. After the de-alcoholiz ed red wine these parameters were unchanged. Flow-mediated dilatation of th e brachial artery was significantly higher (P<0.05) after drinking de-alcoh olized red wine(5.6 +/- 3.2%) than after drinking red wine with alcohol (3. 6 +/- 2.2%) and before drinking (3.9 +/- 2.5%). Conclusion After ingestion of red wine with alcohol the brachial artery dil ated and the blood flow increased. These changes were not observed followin g the de-alcoholized red wine and were thus attributable to ethanol. These haemodynamic changes may have concealed an effect on flow-mediated brachial artery dilatation which did not increase after drinking red wine with alco hol. Flow-mediated dilatation of the brachial artery increased significantl y after de-alcoholized red wine and this finding may support the hypothesis that antioxidant qualities of red wine, rather than ethanol in itself, may protect against cardiovascular disease. (Eur Heart J 2000; 21: 74-78) (C) 2000 The European Society of Cardiology.