[Plasma lipid peroxidation: inhibited by drinking red wine but stimulated by white wine]

The effects of drinking red or white wine (11% alcohol) on the propensity of plasma and low density lipoprotein (LDL) to undergo lipid peroxidation (LP) was studied. 8 healthy men drank 400 ml of red wine a day for 2 weeks and 9 drank white wine similarly. The red wine supplementation resulted in a 20% similarly. The red wine supplementation resulted in a 20% reduction in the propensity of their plasma to undergo LP (in the presence of a free radical-generating system) and a 46% reduction in that of their LDL to undergo LP (in response to copper ions). Contrarily, drinking white wine for 2 weeks resulted in a 33% increase in propensity of plasma to undergo LP and in a 57% increase in that of LDL to undergo LP. The antioxidant effect of drinking red wine on plasma LP can be related to increase in plasma high density lipoprotein concentration, as well as to increase in plasma and LDL polyphenols. We conclude that some phenolic substance present in red, but not in white wine, may be responsible for the antioxidative properties of red wine supplementation for LDL LP, and thus may possess antiatherogenic properties.