Tint in Red Wine May Help Heart, Study Says

It may be the tint that makes red wine good for the heart, according to a California study of color chemicals called phenols.

The chemical clue lends credence to a controversial study that suggested that red wine reduces the risk of heart disease, said Dr. Edwin Frankel, a chemist and co-author of the new research at UC Davis.

The debate was sparked by the previous study, which attributed the low rate of heart disease among people in southern France to their steady consumption of red wine.

Frankel suspects that phenols thwart the effects of LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, a type of cholesterol tied to increased risk of heart disease.

The findings, based on mixing phenols with LDL in a test tube, will be published in Saturday’s issue of the medical journal Lancet.

Frankel said his research shows that red wine phenols are antioxidants, such as Vitamins A and E. Antioxidants mop up free radicals--highly charged particles--that are linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

Some scientists say that it is the reaction of LDL plus free radicals that prompts heart disease.

The California investigators mixed the phenols with blood samples from two volunteers, then added copper to speed the free radical reaction. They found that the phenols reduced the chances of LDL mixing with free radicals by 98% in one sample and 60% in the other sample.

Prof. Timothy Peters, a clinical biochemist at King’s College in London, said “it’s a reasonable hypothesis” but needs to be tested in humans. Peters said more research is needed to find out whether phenols get into the bloodstreams of red wine drinkers.

Previously, Cornell University researchers attributed red wine’s benefits to a different chemical, resveratrol. It is an antifungal agent in grape skins.

Frankel said his team of researchers studied resveratrol and found that it too has antioxidant powers. “I think they both contribute (to the health benefits of red wine), but I don’t know how much the resveratrol contributes compared to the other compounds.”