Moderate acute intake of de-alcoholised red wine, but not alcohol, is protective against radiation-induced DNA damage ex vivo - Results of a comparative in vivo intervention study in younger men

Moderate intake of wine is associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and possibly cancer however it remainsunclear whether the potential health benefits of wine intake are due to alcohol or the non-alcoholic fraction of wine.We thereforetested the hypothesis that the non-alcoholic fraction of wine protects against genome damage induced by oxidative stress ina crossover intervention study involving six young adult males aged 21–26 years. The participants adhered to a low plantphenolic compound diet for 48 h prior to consuming 300mL of complete red wine, dealcoholised red wine or ethanol on separateoccasions 1 week apart. Blood samples were collected 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 h after beverage consumption. Baseline and radiationinducedgenome damage was measured using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay and total plasma catechin concentrationwas measured. Consumption of dealcoholised red wine significantly decreased the gamma radiation-induced DNA damage at 1and 2 h post-consumption by 20%. In contrast alcohol tended to increase radiation-induced genome damage and complete wineprotected against radiation-induced genome damage relative to alcohol. The observed effects were only weakly correlated withthe concentration of total plasma catechin (R =−0.23). These preliminary data suggest that only the non-alcoholic fraction ofred wine protects DNA from oxidative damage but this effect cannot be explained solely by plasma catechin.© 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.