American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 61, 800-804, Copyright © 1995 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

The effect of red and white wines on nonheme-iron absorption in humans

JD Cook, MB Reddy and RF Hurrell
Department of Medicine, Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas City 66160-7402.

The effect of the phenolic compounds in wine was examined in this study by performing radioiron-absorption measurements from extrinsically labeled test meals in 33 human subjects. In four separate studies we observed that absorption was 2- to 3-fold higher from white wine containing a low concentration of polyphenols than from two red wines containing a 10-fold higher concentration of polyphenols. The interaction between the polyphenols and alcohol in wine was evaluated by reducing the alcohol content of the wines by approximately 90%. When the alcohol concentration was reduced, there was a significant 28% decrease in nonheme-iron absorption with red wine but no effect with white wine. The inhibitory effect of red wines with reduced alcohol content was about twofold greater when they were consumed with a small bread roll than when taken without food. Our findings indicate that the inhibitory effect of phenolic compounds in red wine is unlikely to affect iron balance significantly.

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