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Moderate alcohol consumption reduces plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels; a randomized, diet-controlled intervention study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 56, pages 1130–1136 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the acute phase proteins C-reactive protein and fibrinogen.

Design: Randomized, diet-controlled, cross-over study.

Setting: The study was performed at TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, The Netherlands.

Subjects: Ten middle-aged men and 10 postmenopausal women, all apparently healthy, non-smoking and moderate alcohol drinkers, were included. One women dropped out because of a treatment-unrelated cause. The remaining 19 subjects finished the experiment successfully.

Interventions: Men consumed four glasses and women consumed three glasses of beer or no-alcohol beer (control) with evening dinner during two successive periods of 3 weeks. The total diet was supplied to the subjects and had essentially the same composition during these 6 weeks. Before each treatment there was a 1 week washout period to compensate for possible carry-over effects.

Results: Plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels were decreased by 35% (P=0.02) and 12.4% (P≤0.001), respectively, after 3 weeks' consumption of beer, as compared to no-alcohol beer consumption.

Conclusions: Moderate alcohol consumption significantly decreased plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels. An anti-inflammatory action of alcohol may help explain the link between moderate alcohol consumption and lower cardiovascular disease risk.

Sponsorship: Dutch Foundation for Alcohol Research (SAR).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge all those involved in the conduct of the study and thank the volunteers for their enthusiastic participation.

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Author notes

  1. MS van der Gaag: MS van der Gaag died in January 2000.

  2. A Sierksma and HFJ Hendriks: Guarantor: A Sierksma and HFJ Hendriks.

  3. A Sierksma, MS van der Gaag, C Kluft and HFJ Hendriks: Contributors: AS, MG and HH were responsible for the design, the conduct of the study and the laboratory and statistical analyses. CK was responsible for the plasma CRP and fibrinogen analyses. AS wrote the manuscript, and all contributors have approved the manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. TNO Nutrition and Food Research, Zeist, The Netherlands

    A Sierksma, MS van der Gaag & HFJ Hendriks

  2. University Medical Center Utrecht, Julius Center for Patient Oriented Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    A Sierksma

  3. Gaubius Laboratory, TNO Prevention and Health, Leiden, The Netherlands

    C Kluft

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  1. A Sierksma
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  2. MS van der Gaag
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  3. C Kluft
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  4. HFJ Hendriks
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Correspondence to HFJ Hendriks.

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Sierksma, A., van der Gaag, M., Kluft, C. et al. Moderate alcohol consumption reduces plasma C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels; a randomized, diet-controlled intervention study. Eur J Clin Nutr 56, 1130–1136 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601459

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