RESUMEN
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Moderate alcohol consumption exerts a cardioprotective effect, but no studies have evaluated the alcohol-independent cardiovascular effects of the non-alcoholic components of beer. We aimed to evaluate the effects of ethanol and the phenolic compounds of beer on classical and novel cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty-three high risk male volunteers were included in a randomized, crossover feeding trial. After a washout period, all subjects received beer (30 g alcohol/d, 660 mL), the equivalent amount of polyphenols as non-alcoholic beer (990 mL), and gin (30 g alcohol/d, 100 mL) for 4 weeks. All outcomes were evaluated before and after each intervention period. Moderate alcohol consumption increased serum HDL-cholesterol (â¼5%), ApoA-I (â¼6%), ApoA-II (â¼7%) and adiponectin (â¼7%), and decreased serum fibrinogen (â¼8%), and interleukin (IL)-5 (â¼14%) concentrations, whereas the non-alcoholic fraction of beer (mainly polyphenols) increased the receptor antagonist of IL-1 (â¼24%), and decreased lymphocyte expression of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (â¼11%), lymphocyte and monocyte expression of Sialil-Lewis X (â¼16%) and monocyte expression of CCR2 (â¼31%), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-ß (â¼14%) and IL-15 (â¼22%) plasma concentrations. No changes were observed in glucose metabolism parameters or in body weight and adiposity parameters. CONCLUSION: The phenolic content of beer reduces leukocyte adhesion molecules and inflammatory biomarkers, whereas alcohol mainly improves the lipid profile and reduces some plasma inflammatory biomarkers related to atherosclerosis.