The influence of alcohol-containing and alcohol-free beverages on lipid levels and lipid peroxides in serum of rats

It is an established fact that moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages leads to some positive biochemical changes in blood that are widely regarded as indicators of improved prevention of atherosclerosis. However, at present, there are different opinions regarding the biologically active compounds of alcoholic beverages that bring about these changes. This experiment was conducted on 60 male Wistar rats, which were divided into five groups, each of which contained 12 rats: four experimental groups (EG1, EG2, EG3, EG4) and one control group (CG). During 4 weeks, all groups of rats were fed basal diet (BD) supplemented with dry red wine (EG1), beer (EG2), lyophilized dry red wine (EG3), or lyophilized beer (EG4). The rats of the CG were fed BD only. The rats of EG1 and EG2 were fed BD supplemented daily with 2.0 mL of wine and 6.0 mL of beer, respectively. The rats of EG3 and EG4 were fed BD supplemented daily with lyophilized wine and lyophilized beer at a concentration corresponding to an intake of 2.0 mL of original wine and 6.0 mL of original beer, respectively. Before and after completion of the trial, a wide range of laboratory tests including lipids and lipid peroxides were performed. The results of this investigation reveal that both original and lyophilized wine and beer exercise statistically significant beneficial lipidemic and antioxidant effects by reducing total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and lipid peroxides (P , 0.05 for all) and by elevating the high density lipoprotein cholesterol:TC ratio. There were no statistically significant differences in the results between groups fed BD supplemented with original wine and beer versus groups fed BD supplemented with lyophilized wine and beer. Therefore, it can be concluded that the biologically active compound of these beverages is their dry matter containing inter alia polyphenols in relatively high concentrations. (J. Nutr. Biochem. 9:682–686, 1998) © Elsevier Science Inc. 1998