Department of. Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences. Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy — CRC “Innovation for well-being and environment”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
Patrizia Restani
CRC “Innovation for well-being and environment”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy — Faculty of Pharmacy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy
Arina Oana Antoce
University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, Romania
Raquel Romano
Departamento Normas Analíticas Especiale Instituto Nacional de Vitivinicultura, Mendoza, Argentina
Ursula Fradera
Deutsche Weinakademie, Bodenheim, Germany and Wine Information Council, Brussels, Belgium
Pierre-Louis Teissedre
Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin, Unité de recherche Œnologie, Villenave d’Ornon cedex, France
Jean-Claude Ruf
OIV - International Organisation of Vine and Wine, Dijon, France
This review critically assesses scientific literature in order to determine whether alcoholic beverages can positively or negatively affect the incidence and severity of immune-mediated disorders, including autoimmune diseases. Few scientific studies explore the association between alcoholic beverages and the immune system, in contrast to the extensive literature dedicated to the cardiovascular system. Because wine is the most investigated product in this review, it does not take into account studies that evaluate the role of alcohol itself without specifying the beverages included (e.g., wine, spirits and beer). The analysis of the data regarding the diseases reviewed here (allergies, celiac disease, the common cold and COVID-19, chronic inflammation bowel diseases, type 1 diabetes, dermatitis herpetiformis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus and thyroid disorders) revealed that, in principle (although with differences between the various pathologies), moderate consumption of wine does not negatively affect the risk of development or the progression of immune-mediated diseases. In some cases, the effect is mainly attributable to the alcohol itself, in others the wine is responsible for a more favourable trend compared to other alcoholic beverages. This review was limited by the scarcity of available papers, so that new prospective studies on the association between wine consumption and immune-mediated diseases should also be specifically designed to draw more solid conclusions.
