The objective of this Study was to examine the association between wine consumption and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and coronary heart disease (CHD) and also to analyze whether this association could be influenced by personal and study factors, including the participants’ mean age, the percentage of female subjects, follow-up time and percentage of current smokers.

In order to conduct this systematic review and meta-analysis, the researchers looked at several databases for longitudinal studies from their inception to March 2023.  This included 25 studies, of which the meta-analysis included 22 studies.

This research revealed that wine consumption has an inverse relationship to cardiovascular mortality, CVD, and CHD. Age, the proportion of women in the samples, and follow-up time did not influence this association. Interpreting these findings with prudence was necessary because increasing wine intake might be harmful to individuals who are vulnerable to alcohol because of age, medication, or their pathologies.

After an extensive search for research studies, the authors retrieved 7,042 articles from 9 countries with 1,443,245 subjects with a cumulative follow-up period between 4 to 25 years. However, the final analytical set for this systematic review and meta-analysis consisted of 22 studies. Additionally, there were 4 case–control studies and 21 cohort studies.  Many studies did not report the quantity of wine consumed and so the researchers did not take these into consideration for calculating its effect.

The current review and meta-analysis added to the previous evidence of an inverse association between wine consumption and the three cardiovascular events evaluated in this study. Importantly, the average age, proportion of women, follow-up duration, or smoking status did not affect this association.

Though the observed inverse association applied to red and white wine, the variations in the strength of this association were attributable to the different concentrations of some components. Red wine has phenolic compounds, such as  gallic acid, catechin, and flavonols which gives it antioxidant properties. They also reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, thrombosis risk, plasma, and lipid peroxide. The alcoholic components of wine also reduce thrombosis risk and fibrinogen levels and induce collagen and platelet aggregation. Higher consumption of red wine is thus more beneficial for combating CVDs than other alcoholic beverages.

Conclusions

Although the current study results confirms the existing data and the general consensus  that moderate wine consumption is good for cardiac health and the existence of U and J type of curve suggesting the benefits are frittered away and in fact cause damage beyond certain consumption  the Study holds back on  the positivity of drinking wine and issues the usual statutory warning that the result of the Study must be used with care and that studies must assess and delineate the effect of wine drinking by the type of wine.

They also exhort the scientists to interpret these results with care and have the usual riders – like increased wine consumption possibly harmful to people susceptible to alcohol use due to age, pre-existing pathologies or medication.

However, based on the findings of this review, wine can still be a part of dietary recommendations. The Mediterraneanwine nd health diet includes wine and the Study recommends its use for health benefits.

For detailed Review visit MDPI website:

Subhash Arora