Drinking guidance for red wine: to be taken with meals: red wine prevents the postprandial increase of plasma oxidized lipids

Moderate wine consumption has been shown to lower cardiovascular risk when part of a healthy life style. Red wine compounds, especially polyphenols, might play a role in preventing the development and progression of atherosclerosis, through different modalities of action, including inhibition of lipid peroxidation, metal chelation, free radical scavenging, inhibition of platelet aggregation, anti-inflammatory and estrogenic activity, improvement of endothelial function, lowering of blood pressure and modulation of lipoprotein metabolism. The attenuation of the postprandial oxidative stress could be another mechanism involved in protection by wine phenols, as the absorption of prooxidant/oxidized species with a meal can induce physiological events, such as the formation of mildly oxidized lipoprotein or endothelial dysfunction and inflammatory responses, all linked to the development of cardiovascular disease. As regards oxidizable/oxidized dietary fats, the typical Western diet contains substantial quantities of oxidized lipids. In view of the health implications of their absorption from food, we studied the effect of wine consumption with a meal on modulation of oxidative stress and postprandial increase of plasma oxidized lipids in humans.