Research claims red wine could help treat serious lung disease

EVIDENCE of the possible health benefits of red wine was boosted further yesterday, with new research suggesting it could be used to help treat serious lung disease.

Past studies have linked components of red wine with helping to prevent cancer, protect against heart problems, and improve brain function.

The latest study to point to the potential benefits of drinking red wine, published in the journal Thorax, suggested that the component resveratrol seemed to "damp down" the inflammatory process in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Researchers from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London said this polyphenol antioxidant compound, found in the skins of red fruits like grapes, could be developed to treat the disease.

Smoking is the main cause of COPD, which is irreversible, and progressive. It causes the lungs to deteriorate, making it difficult, and eventually impossible to breathe.

In September, researchers in Greece said they had found that two glasses of red wine counteracted the damage to the arteries caused by one cigarette.

To assess the impact on the lungs, the Imperial researchers also ran experiments using smokers.

The inflammatory process of COPD involves cells called macrophages, which produce powerful chemicals interleukins which stimulate the growth and activity of other immune system cells. They also produce chemicals to prolong cell life, and generate free radicals in the process.

The research team isolated macrophages in lung fluid samples of 15 smokers, and 15 COPD patients.

In one experiment they artificially spurred the macrophages into action using an interleukin, or cigarette smoke, then added resveratrol.

In another test, resveratrol was added without any artificial stimulation. In unstimulated samples, resveratrol almost wiped out production of interleukin 8 (by 94% in smokers' macrophages, and 88% in the COPD group). Production of interleukin 8 was around five times as great in patients with COPD as in smokers.

The researchers concluded that the resveratrol, or related compounds, could be more effective than corticosteroids, which are usually used to treat COPD, but it was not clear how much of the compound would reach the lung tissues.

Many scientists are currently trying to isolate the key ingredients in red wine, in the hope this could lead to new drugs to protect against heart disease, cancer, and other problems.

However, health campaigners have also been keen to stress that smokers, and others, should not resort to drinking vast quantities of wine to counteract the effects of smoking or to prevent disease.

The risk of dying from chronic progressive lung disease is higher at small district general hospitals compared with larger hospitals, research in the journal, Thorax, revealed yesterday. Researchers from London's Whipps Cross hospital looked at 1,274 cases of COPD in 30 English hospitals.

Small district hospitals fared the worst, with a death rate of 17.5%, followed by teaching hospitals (11.9%), and large district general hospitals (11.2%). Higher death rates were associated with fewer doctors and fewer patients under the care of a specialist.