Abstract: To study the protective effect and mechanism of red wine and alcohol-free red wine on risk of atherosclerosis. This experiment was conducted on 50 male golden hamsters, which were divided into five groups, each of which contained 10 hamsters: red wine group, alcohol-free red wine group, alcohol group, hyperlipidemia group and control group. During 4 weeks, all hamsters were fed high cholesterol diets except control group. Afer completion of the trial, the plasma lipid levels and lipid peroxidation contents were determined in golden hamsters, and the morphological variation in liver cell was investigated with electron microscopy. The results showed red wine, alcohol-free red wine and alcohol decreased significantly the concentrations of TC and TG in hamsters. Compared with the hyperlipidemia group, the levels of LDL-C were significantly decreased in other groups, but not the HDL-C. Consumption of red wine, alcohol-free red wine and alcohol, all had no significant effects on ApoⅠand ApoB. Red wine, alcohol-free red wine and alcohol significantly decreased the contents of MDA in hamsters. The experiment demonstrated red wine can ameliorate the incidence of atherosclerosis by reducing serum TC, TG, LDL-C, and compounds of red wine have co-operative effect.

Key words: Red wine, Lipid, Lipoprotein, Lipid peroxidation