Alcoholic Beverage and Meal Choices for the Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases: A Randomized Nutrigenomic Trial

Abstract EN

Background.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the first cause of death worldwide.

Mediterranean diet may play a crucial role in the prevention of NCDs, and the presence of wine in this diet could play a positive role on health.

Methods.

54 healthy volunteers consumed one of the following beverages: red (RW) or white wine (WW), vodka (VDK), and/or Mediterranean meal (MeDM) and high-fat meal (HFM).

Results.

OxLDL-C changed significantly between baseline versus HFM, MeDM versus HFM, and HFM versus HFM + RW (p<0.05).

Significant upregulation of catalase (CAT) was observed only after RW.

Conversely, WW, VDK, RW + MeDM, HF + WW, and HF + VDK determined a significant downregulation of CAT gene.

Superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) gene expression was upregulated in WW, MeDM + VDK, and RW.

Contrariwise, HFM + VDK determined a downregulation of its expression.

RW, RW + MeDM, and RW + HFM caused the upregulation of glutathione peroxidase-1 (GPX1).

Conclusions.

Our results suggest that the association of low/moderate intake of alcohol beverages, with nutraceutical-proven effectiveness, and ethanol, in association with a Mediterranean diet, could determine a reduction of atherosclerosis risk onset through a positive modulation of antioxidant gene expression helping in the prevention of inflammatory and oxidative damages.