How about drinking red wine in general? Ask your doctor what the red wine protocol is. Incompetency reigns if there is no red wine protocol.
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Occasional smokers can avoid some harmful effects, according to a new report in The American Journal of Medicine.
Drinking red wine is widely regarded as protective against
cardiovascular disease. A new report in The American Journal of Medicine
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.
Cigarette smoke causes acute endothelial damage, vascular and
systemic inflammation, and cellular aging. Red wine stimulates the
formation of endothelium-dependent relaxation factors such as nitric
oxide, which improve endothelial function in coronary arteries possibly
because of the high phenol concentration in red wine.
“However, sparse data exist on the short term potential
vasoprotective effects of red wine in smoking-healthy individuals,”
explained lead investigator Viktoria Schwarz, MD, of the University of
Saarland, Homburg, Germany. “The aim of our study was to investigate the
acute vascular effects of red wine consumption prior to ‘occasional
lifestyle smoking’ in healthy individuals. We 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 aging, 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.
Inflammation puts stress on cells due to an imbalance in reactive
oxygen species production and the body’s antioxidant defenses. According
to Dr. Schwarz, “We observed acute proinflammatory changes, namely,
leukocytosis, neutrophilia, upregulated levels of IL-6 in serum, and
enhanced messenger RNA expression of IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor
alpha. Our study adds to the present evidence that the proinflammatory
effects in nonsmokers with ‘occasional lifestyle smoking’ could be
prevented by red wine consumption.”
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.
These findings underscore the magnitude of acute damage exerted by
cigarette smoking in “occasional lifestyle smokers” and demonstrate the
potential of red wine as a protective strategy to avert markers of
vascular injury. Dr. Schwarz and co-investigators emphasized that they
do not intend to motivate occasional smokers to drink or occasional
drinkers to smoke. “Nevertheless, this study identified mechanisms
suitable to explore damage and protection on the vasculature in humans,
paving the way for future clinical studies.”
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