Long term effects of red wine consumption in brain: an MRI, fMRI and neuropsychological evaluation study

ABSTRACT

Red wine (RW) consumption has been proposed to have a potential health benefit. However, the effect of RW consumption on the brain is not entirely known, mainly when associated with aging. Regular red wine consumers (n = 30) and abstainers (ABST; n = 27) without cognitive impairment were evaluated for brain structural characteristics (Fazekas score and voxel-based morphometry) and for functional adaptations assessed by fMRI (using the Word Tasks Color Stroop (WCST) and Two-Back (TBT)), as well as by neuropsychological tests in different domains. There were no significant differences regarding brain morphological features. RW consumers showed greater activation in the thalamus during WCST and in paracingulate/anterior cingulate cortices, left superior frontal gyrus and frontal pole during TBT. ABST required higher activation of different cortical areas in the left parietal lobe during WCST. Age and intelligence quotient influenced those activations. In Stroop and trail-making neuropsychological tests, RW consumers performed slightly better than ABST. This study should be viewed as hypothesis-generating rather than conclusive.

Highlights

• White matter hyperintensities and gray matter volume did not differ between the RW and ABST groups.

• RW consumers could depend more on right thalamus during WSCT due to its role in visual integration.

• ABST could depend more on left parietal lobe during WSCT due to its role in sensory and phonological encoding.

• RW consumers with inferior cognitive abilities could depend more on letter recognition to solve a TBT correctly.

• Younger abstainers could depend more on different areas involved in integrating cognitive processes and attention regulation to solve a TBT correctly.

KEYWORDS:

• red wine consumption
• polyfenols
• cognitive function
• fMRI
• Stroop task
• N-back task
• brain volumetry
• Fazekas score

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Pseudonimized data may be available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), São Paulo (SP), Brazil [grant no 2012/00329-0], and LIM-44, Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo (USP), São Paulo (SP), Brazil

Notes on contributors

Lucas Zoppi Campane

Lucas Zoppi Campane, Ph.D. is a research scientist at Laboratory of Medical Investigations on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (LIM-44), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo-Brazil.

Mariana Penteado Nucci

Mariana Penteado Nucci, Ph.D. is a research scientist at Laboratory of Medical Investigations on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (LIM-44), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo-Brazil.

Marcelo Nishiyama

Marcelo Nishiyama, Ph.D. is research scientist at Heart Institute (InCor), Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo-Brazil.

Marina Von Zuben

Marina von Zuben, M.Sc. is a psychologist at Psychiatry Institute, Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo-Brazil.

Edson Amaro Jr

Edson Amaro Jr, Ph.D. is a Senior research scientist at Laboratory of Medical Investigations on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (LIM-44), Hospital das Clinicas HCFMUSP, Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo-Brazil.

Protasio Lemos da Luz

Protásio Lemos da Luz, Ph.D. is a Senior Professor of Cardiology at Heart Institute (InCor), Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo - São Paulo, Brazil.