August 11/Bari, Italy/Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- New research, "Polyphenols from Red Wine are Potent Modulators of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responsiveness," is the subject of a report. "It is well known that the consumption of dietary polyphenols leads to beneficial effects for human health as in the case of prevention and/or attenuation of cardiovascular, inflammatory, neurodegenerative and neoplastic diseases. This review summarizes the role of polyphenols from red wine in the immune function," investigators in Bari, Italy. report.

"In particular, using healthy human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we have demonstrated the in vitro ability of Negroamaro, an Italian red wine, to induce the release of nitric oxide and both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, thus leading to the maintenance of the immmune homeostasis in the host. All these effects were abrogated by deprivation of polyphenols from red wine samples. We have also provided evidence that Negromaro polyphenols are able to activate extracellular regulated kinase and p38 kinase and switch off the NF-kappaB pathway via an increased expression with time of the IkappaBalpha phosphorylated form. These mechanisms may represent key molecular events leading to inhibition of the pro-inflammatory cascade and atherogenesis," wrote T. Magrone and colleagues, University of Bari, Faculty of Medicine.

The researchers concluded, "According to the current literature and our own data, moderate consumption of red wine seems to be protective for the host in the prevention of several diseases, even including aged-related diseases by virtue of its immunomodulating properties."

Magrone and colleagues published their study in  Proceedings of the Nutrition Society ("Polyphenols from Red Wine are Potent Modulators of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responsiveness," Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 2010;69(3):279-85).

For additional information, contact T. Magrone, University of Bari, Immunology Section, Faculty of Medicine, Bari, Italy.

From the August 30, 2010, Prepared Foods E-dition