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Moderate drinking of red wine can reduce health damage from cigarettes
In the wine lies the truth, is an old saying. But wine can do even more, as scientists of the Saarland University in Homburg noted. According to her, a glass of wine before smoking a cigarette can reduce damage from cigarette smoke. However, the effect is observed only at moderate consumption, so the research team. The scientists published the results of their study in the journal "American Journal of Medicine".
Red wine contains protective chemicals
Can we really partially offset the negative effects of one vice with another negative health? German experts claim that a glass of red wine can prevent some of the damage before smoking cigarettes. This effect is triggered by chemicals contained in the wine, which protect our blood vessels from the short-term damage caused by smoking.
Red wine improves blood lipid levels in type II diabetes and can even reduce the smoke damage of a cigarette. (Image: Igor Normann / fotolia.com) Relationship between blood alcohol levels and tobacco damage studied
In their study, the scientists studied the effects of smoking on the blood and arteries of twenty healthy nonsmokers. The subjects were willing to voluntarily inhale the smoke of three cigarettes, explain the doctors. Half of the participants drank a glass of red wine one hour before smoking. As a result, these subjects produced a blood alcohol level of 0.75 percent.
Positive effects of the consumption of red wine
The drinking of the wine prevented the release of microparticles from arterial walls, platelets and white blood cells, explain the German scientists. These are usually harmed by smoking. In addition, the consumption of red wine also reduced inflammation and slowed down a genetic aging process in human cells. This process is associated with the enzyme telomerase.
What is telomerase??
Telomerase is an enzyme of the nucleus. This consists of a protein (TERT) and an RNA component (TR). The enzyme restores the telomeres which are tails of the chromosomes.
Drinking red wine before smoking decreases the decrease in telomerase activity
The study found that the so-called telomerase activity in volunteers after smoking was reduced by 56 percent, the researchers say. By contrast, telomerase activity only fell by 20 percent in the wine-drinking subjects.
Physicians are studying vascular effects of red wine consumption before occasional smoking
The aim of our study was to investigate the acute vascular effects of red wine consumption before occasional smoking in healthy individuals, explains the study director. Viktoria Schwarz from the University of Saarland in Homburg.
There is uncertainty about the protective effect of red wine in habitual smokers
We found evidence that consuming red wine before smoking prevents most of the vascular injury from smoking. The study, however, focused on young and healthy nonsmokers. It is not clear if the results are also valid for the elderly, the sick and the habitual smoker, adds Dr. Black added.
Study does not encourage people to smoke or drink
The results are not meant to motivate occasional smokers to start drinking alcohol now. Even occasional drinkers of alcohol should not start smoking now. black.
Examples of negative effects of smoking:
Smoking is commonly seen as a source of many different health problems. The bad reputation of consuming cigarettes is not without reason. There are, for example, studies that smoking causes long-lasting DNA damage. Some of the negative effects of smoking are particularly acute for women. Smoking increases the risk of pre-cancerous colorectal cancer in women much more than in men, noted physicians in another recent study.
Further future studies on the topic should be carried out
The study identified suitable mechanisms to investigate the damage and protection of the vascular system in humans, explains the expert. Black. The results hopefully pave the way for future clinical trials, the study director continues. (As)