The Case for Anthocyanin Consumption to Promote Human Health: A Review.

Anthocyanins belong to the flavonoid group of polyphenolic compounds, which are responsible for the red and blue colors of plant organs such as fruits, flowers, and leaves. Due to their frequent presence in plants, particularly berry fruits, vegetables, and grapes, they are key components of the human diet. Interest in anthocyanins has increased widely during the past decade. Numerous studies have suggested that anthocyanins have a wide range of health-promoting properties. These compounds are therefore considered to be a functional food factor, which may have important implications in the prevention of chronic diseases. The aim of this body of work is to investigate and review the current literature on anthocyanins, and particularly their pharmacokinetics and any health-promoting properties, in order to summarize existing knowledge and highlight any aspects that require further study and analysis.

Is it merely a myth that alcoholic beverages such as red wine can be cardioprotective?

It has been suggested that although the negative impact of alcohol consumption varies from person to person, on a global level the adverse effect of alcohol on cardiovascular disease outweighs any protective effect by between two- and three-fold. This is inaccurate. There is a proven positive relationship between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease that is acknowledged by the World Health Organization. For example, moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by approximately 25%, such that alcohol consumption per se accounts for -4.7% of the total cardiovascular disease burden in Australia. Correspondingly, cardiovascular disease accounted for 34% of the total number of deaths in Australia in 2008, and 18% of the overall burden of disease in Australia in 2003, with coronary heart disease and stroke contributing over 80% of this burden. Australia is not substantially different from other developed countries having similar demographics to, and the same leading causes of burden as, other high-income developed countries. This article examines the suggestions and evidence surrounding the relationship between light-to-moderate alcohol consumption and benefits to human health.

Is it scientifically justifiable to exclude wine and/or unfermented grape derivatives from the diet of consumers with or at risk of developing type-2 diabetes?

The abuse of alcoholic beverages has been associated with an increased risk of chronic-degenerative diseases, including diabetes mellitus, so that there is a general diffidence towards the low/moderate consumption of wine by individuals with type-2 diabetes (T2D) or at risk of developing it. This narrative review investigates by critical revision of the scientific literature whether wine/grape derivatives must be excluded or if their low/moderate consumption could be part of the daily diet of T2D individuals. Although further intervention studies on the consumption of alcoholic beverages and the development or control of T2D are needed, the burden of evidence suggests that low/moderate wine consumption could have beneficial effects.

Specific and sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for analysis of residual allergenic food proteins in commercial bottled wine fined with egg white, milk, and nongrape-derived tannins.

Regulations introduced by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand in December 2002 require all wine and wine product labels in Australia to identify the presence of a processing aid, additive or other ingredient, which is known to be a potential allergen. The objective of this study was to establish sensitive assays to detect and measure allergenic proteins from commonly used processing aids in final bottled wine. Sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were developed and established for the proteins casein, ovalbumin, and peanut. Lower limits of detection of these proteins were 8, 1, and 8 ng/mL, respectively. A panel of 153 commercially available bottled Australian wines were tested by these ELISA, and except for two red wines known to contain added whole eggs, residuals of these food allergens were not detected in any wine. These findings are consistent with a lack of residual potentially allergenic egg-, milk-, or nut-derived processing aids in final bottled wine produced in Australia according to good manufacturing practice at a concentration that could cause an adverse reaction in egg, milk, or peanut/tree-nut allergic adult consumers.

Potential food allergens in wine: double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and basophil activation analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Recent Australian and international legislation requires labeling of wines made by using the potentially allergenic food proteins casein, milk, egg white, or isinglass (fish-derived) where "there is a detectable residual processing aid." We investigated whether wines fined using these proteins or non-grape-derived tannins (tree-nut derived) can provoke significant clinical allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) in patients with confirmed immunoglobulin E-mediated relevant food allergy. METHODS: A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed to determine whether allergic reactions followed consumption of Australian commercial wines fined using one or more of the legislation-targeted food proteins. In addition, allergenicity of a larger panel of these wines was evaluated by blood basophil activation. RESULTS: No anaphylaxis was induced by wine consumption. Three mild clinical reactions to protein-fined wine and two mild reactions to unfined wine occurred, but there was no statistically significant difference in reaction parameters between subject groups or between processing aids. No pattern of basophil activation correlated with wine type, processing aid, or subject group. CONCLUSION: Wines fined with egg white, isinglass, or non-grape-derived tannins present an extremely low risk of anaphylaxis to fish-, egg-, or peanut-allergic consumers. Although consumption of milk protein-fined wine did not induce anaphylaxis, there were insufficient subjects to determine statistically whether wines fined with milk proteins present a risk to the very rare milk-allergic consumers. In summary, the observed lack of anaphylaxis and basophil activation induced by wines made using the legislation-targeted food proteins according to good manufacturing practice suggests negligible residual food allergens in these wines.

Effects of red wine on established markers of arterial structure and function in human studies: current knowledge and future research directions.

Evidence from observational studies suggests that mild-to-moderate consumption of red wine is associated with reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Various individual chemical components of red wine also show salutary effects on vascular homeostasis, that is, enhanced endothelial function and arterial distensibility, both in vitro and in animal studies. However, testing the beneficial potential of red wine in primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention on established surrogate cardiovascular markers requires further study with longer term intervention trials. This report reviews and critically appraises the published evidence for the effects of red wine on endothelium-dependent vasodilation, arterial stiffness and arterial wave reflections in healthy subjects and in patients with cardiovascular disease. Suggestions for future research directions are also provided.