Red Wine and CVD

Eureka reports on an interesting finding by a Czech researcher. Wine protects only those who also exercise from CVD.

They state:

Evidence suggesting that mild to moderate consumption of wine protects against cardiovascular disease has been accumulating since the early 1990s. In particular, retrospective studies have found that wine increases levels of HDL, the "good" cholesterol. But until now there has been no long-term, prospective, randomised study comparing the effects of red and white wine on HDL cholesterol and other markers of atherosclerosis. The IVV study is the first long-term, prospective randomised trial comparing the effect of red and white wine on markers of atherosclerosis. The study included 146 people with mild to moderate risk of cardiovascular disease according to the HeartScore . Participants were randomised to one year of moderate consumption of red wine (Pinot Noir) or white wine (Chardonnay-Pinot) from the same year and wine region of the Czech Republic....
He added: "The only positive and continuous result was in the subgroup of patients who took more exercise, which means regular exercise at least twice a week, plus the wine consumption. In this group HDL cholesterol increased and LDL and total cholesterol decreased in the red and white wine groups. There may be some synergy between the low dose of ethyl alcohol in wine and exercise which is protective against CVD."

Now this is interesting since having lived in Prague for a while I found the Czechs drink beer and the Slovaks drink wine, usually white. Also there is often a genetic tendency for very low HDL and at the same time low cholesterol, with very low risk of CVD.

Just what this all means I do not know but since it is the middle of Labor Day weekend I thought it would be worth a comment!