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Say Cheers: White Wine May Aid Lungs: Presented at ATS

By Mike Fillon
Special to DG News

ATLANTA, GA -- May 21, 2002 -- Red wine has previously been linked to cardiovascular health. Now, a study has shown that wine -- especially white wine -- may enhance lung performance.

The findings were presented here Monday at ATS 2002, the American Thoracic Society's 98^th International Conference.

"Many studies on wine and the heart have concluded that one to three glasses of wine per day may be beneficial [to the heart], and this study suggests that an equivalent amount of wine may also protect the lung" said lead researcher Holger J. Schunemann, MD, PhD, of the University of Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, United States.

The researchers asked 1,555 adult subjects to answer questions during a detailed, computer-based interview about their total lifetime alcohol consumption by decade, as well as their alcohol use in the previous 30 days. Then they measured lung function by analyzing the relation of beverage specific alcohol intake with forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁) and forced vital capacity (FVC).

Pulmonary function was expressed as the percentage of predicted normal FEV₁ (FEV₁ percent) and of FVC (FVC percent) after adjustment for height, age, gender and race. The researchers also used multiple linear regression analysis after adjustment for other factors including pack-years of smoking, smoking status, weight, education, nutritional factors, and lung function expressed as FEV₁ to compensate for the generally healthier eating habits of those who drink wine - but not other types of alcohol - versus people who exclusively drink beer or other types of alcohol.

Dr. Schunemann said they did not see a significant association between total alcohol intake, beer or liquor and lung function, but they did see a positive association between both recent and lifetime wine intake and lung function. Specifically, they found one glass of white wine daily was linked to a 1.5 percent higher pulmonary function; three glasses of white wine per day increased lung function by 3 percent and six glasses per day increased lung function by six percent.

In addition, they discovered people who drank white wine had greater lung function than those who consumed red wine. "Still, both groups of wine drinkers had greater lung function than non-wine drinkers," he said.

Dr. Schunemann said white wine's high level of flavonoids -- antioxidant molecules -- might help explain the wine's protective effect.

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