Moderate wine consumption measured using the biomarker urinary tartaric acid concentration decreases inflammatory mediators related to atherosclerosis

Objectives: Several studies suggest that moderate wine consumption, particularly red wine, may have benefits for cardiovascular health. Red wine contains a variety of bioactive compounds, including polyphenols like phenolic acids, which have demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects in experimental models. The aim of this study was to assess the anti-inflammatory properties of wine, measured as urinary tartaric acid, a new biomarker of wine consumption. Design, settings, and participants: One-year longitudinal study that included 217 participants from the PREDIMED trial. Measurements: Plasma inflammatory biomarkers and urinary tartaric acid were analyzed using xMAP technology and high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to assess the relationship between variations over 1 -year in urinary tartaric acid concentrations and 1 -year changes in serum inflammatory molecules, including adhesion cell molecules, interleukine-6, tumour necrosis factor alpha, and monocyte chemotactic protein 1. Three categories were built according to tertiles of 1-y changes in urinary tartaric acid. Results: Using a ROC curve, urinary tartaric acid was corroborated as a reliable biomarker of wine consumption (AUC = 0.818 (95% CI: 0.76; 0.87). In the continuous analysis, participants with higher increases in tartaric acid significantly reduced their concentrations in soluble vascular adhesion molecule (sVCAM-1) after 1 -year of followup (-0.20 (-0.38; -9,93) ng/mL per 1 -SD increment, p -value = 0.031). Moreover, tertiles 2 and 3 of 1 -year changes in tartaric acid presented a significant reduction in soluble intercellular cell adhesion molecule (sICAM-1) as compared to tertile 1 (-0.31 (-0.52; -0.10) ng/mL,p-value = 0.014 and -0.29 (-0.52; -0.07) ng/mL,p-value = 0.023, respectively). Participants in the third tertile also exhibited a reduced concentration of sVCAM-1 compared to those in the first tertile (-0.31 (-0.55; -0.06) ng/mL, p -value = 0.035). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that wine consumption is associated with lower levels of inflammation due to the anti-inflammatory properties of wine compounds. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS on behalf of SERDI Publisher. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC -ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).