NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) -- You may have heard that drinking a moderate amount of red wine -- no more than one or two glasses a day -- is good for your heart. Now, two new studies suggest that you can get the heart-healthy benefits of wine without actually drinking that particular shade of vino -- or for that matter, any vino at all.
Instead, beer or white wine is just as good, according to one report from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting in Anaheim, California. And a second study suggests that grape juice may also have some protective effect.
The major ingredient thought to be beneficial in wine is ethanol, the type of alcohol that is also found in beer and spirits. Ethanol, also know as ethyl alcohol, is known to increase blood levels of HDL, or "good" cholesterol, a factor that may help prevent heart disease.
However, red wine was thought to have an added benefit, most likely due to substances called flavonoids, antioxidants found in grape skins that are thought to help prevent blood clots.
Several studies -- conducted mostly in countries with a heavy consumption of red wine -- found a greater benefit from that beverage, compared with beer, liquor, or even white wine.
But, in a new study of nearly 130,000 people, a moderate consumption of wine and beer were the most protective against hospitalizations for heart disease.
"People who drank liquor were protected, but people who drank beer or wine were better protected," said Dr. Arthur Klatsky in a statement from the ACC. Those who drank beer or wine had a 20% to 30% lower risk of hospitalization for heart disease, while liquor drinkers had only a 10% lower risk. The study found a slightly greater benefit for beer in men and wine in women.
"These data support the conclusion that alcohol drinking protects against CHD (coronary heart disease) primarily through the effects of ethyl alcohol, because risk differences between beverage types are minor," according to Klatsky, of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, California. However, Klatsky cautions that the results apply only to moderate intake of alcohol, which is one drink a day for women, and two drinks a day for men.
In a second study, researchers looked at how orange juice, grapefruit juice, and grape juice affected the "stickiness" of blood clotting cells, called platelets. The less likely platelets are to stick together, the less likely they will form blood clots in blood vessels leading to the heart.
The tendency for platelets to aggregate, or their "stickiness," was reduced by about 40% in the hour after drinking three glasses of grape juice, according to blood tests on the five volunteers. While orange juice and grapefruit juice appeared to reduce platelet stickiness by 10% to 15%, the results of these two juices could have been due to chance, according to researcher Dr. John Folts, of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Grape juice is thought to contain flavonoids, although not as much as found in wine.
"That's not to say orange and grapefruit juices don't contain flavonoids -- they do. And both juices are good for you for a number of reasons," Folts said in statement from the ACC. "However, our findings suggest that flavonoids in purple grape juice and red wine have stronger antiplatelet and, quite possibly, antioxidant properties than those in orange or grapefruit juices."
The study was funded by Welch Foods, Inc.; Nutricia Research Foundation in the Netherlands; and the Oscar Rennebohm Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin.
