Attention social smokers: maybe have a glass of red wine first

A report in The American Journal of Medicine has found that a glass or two of red wine before lighting up a cigarette can counteract some of the short-term negative effects of smoking on blood vessels.

Lead researcher Viktoria Schwarz, MD, of the University of Saarland in Germany said the aim of the study was to investigate the acute vascular effects of red wine consumption prior to ‘occasional lifestyle smoking’ in healthy individuals. Dr Schwarz said the study found evidence that preconsumption of red wine prevented most of the vascular injury caused by smoking.

The study examined the effects of smoking on various biochemical processes in the blood and vessels of 20 healthy non-smokers who volunteered to smoke three cigarettes. Half of the subjects drank red wine one hour before smoking, in an amount calculated to result in 0.075% blood alcohol content. Blood and urine were collected before and after drinking and smoking and continued until 18 hours after smoking.

Smoking is known to cause microparticles to be released into the bloodstream. These particles come from endothelial cells, platelets and monocytes, and indicate that cells in the blood vessels are being damaged. Researchers found that in subjects who consumed red wine before smoking, these cellular changes did not occur.

Another biochemical process affected by smoking is telomerase activity. Telomeres can be thought of as ‘protective caps’ on chromosomes. During ageing, these caps can shorten and lose their protective ability. By measuring telomerase activity, investigators determined that the group that smoked without drinking red wine showed a 56% decrease in telomerase activity, while the drinking group showed only a 20% decrease.

Since the study was limited to young, healthy nonsmokers, it is not clear whether these findings apply to the elderly, the ill or chronic smokers. There was no comparison to different alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages or whether the results would apply to more than just occasional smokers and drinkers.