Alcohol consumption and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in healthy men and women from 3 European populations.

Background: Because high dietary and blood n-3 (omega-3) fatty acids (FAs) are protective against coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, the alcohol-associated increase in blood n-3 FAs could be considered an original mechanism of alcohol's cardioprotective effect. Objective: Our objective was to assess whether alcohol consumption is associated with concentrations of very-long-chain ''marine'' (eg, fish oil) n-3 FAs both in plasma and in red blood cell membranes. Design: In the framework of the IMMIDIET (Dietary Habit Profile in European Communities with Different Risk of Myocardial Infarction: the Impact of Migration as a Model of Gene-Environment Interaction) Project, 1604 subjects (802 women-men pairs), aged 26-65 y, were enrolled in Italy, Belgium, and England. A 1-y-recall food-frequency questionnaire was used to evaluate dietary intake. Results: In fully adjusted multivariate analyses, alcohol intake was positively associated with plasma eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexanoic acid (DHA), and EPA 1 DHA concentrations (P , 0.0001, P¼0.036, and P¼0.002, respectively) in women and with EPA and the EPA 1 DHA index in red blood cells (P , 0.0001 and P ¼ 0.037, respectively). In men, only plasma and red blood cell EPA concentrations were associated with alcohol intake (P ¼ 0.003 and P ¼ 0.004, respectively). Stratified analyses showed an association between alcohol and both plasma and red cell EPA (P ¼0.008 and P¼0.002, respectively),DHA(P ¼0.014 and P¼ 0.008, respectively), and the EPA 1 DHA index (P ¼ 0.010 and P ¼ 0.006, respectively) in wine drinkers, whereas no association was found in those who drink beer and spirits. Conclusions: Alcohol intake was associated with higher plasma and red blood cell concentrations of marine n-3 FAs. Components of wine other than alcohol (polyphenols) might exert these effects. Part of the alcohol-induced cardioprotection may be mediated through increased marine n-3 FAs.