Long term effects of red wine consumption in brain: an MRI, fMRI and neuropsychological evaluation study

Red wine (RW) consumption has been proposed to have a potential health benefit. However, the effect of RW consumption on the brain is not entirely known, mainly when associated with aging. Regular red wine consumers (n = 30) and abstainers (ABST; n = 27) without cognitive impairment were evaluated for brain structural characteristics (Fazekas score and voxel-based morphometry) and for functional adaptations assessed by fMRI (using the Word Tasks Color Stroop (WCST) and Two-Back (TBT)), as well as by neuropsychological tests in different domains. There were no significant differences regarding brain morphological features. RW consumers showed greater activation in the thalamus during WCST and in paracingulate/anterior cingulate cortices, left superior frontal gyrus and frontal pole during TBT. ABST required higher activation of different cortical areas in the left parietal lobe during WCST. Age and intelligence quotient influenced those activations. In Stroop and trail-making neuropsychological tests, RW consumers performed slightly better than ABST. This study should be viewed as hypothesis-generating rather than conclusive.HighlightsWhite matter hyperintensities and gray matter volume did not differ between the RW and ABST groups.RW consumers could depend more on right thalamus during WSCT due to its role in visual integration.ABST could depend more on left parietal lobe during WSCT due to its role in sensory and phonological encoding.RW consumers with inferior cognitive abilities could depend more on letter recognition to solve a TBT correctly.Younger abstainers could depend more on different areas involved in integrating cognitive processes and attention regulation to solve a TBT correctly.