Effect of diet and red wine consumption on serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC), dehydroepiandrosterone-sulphate (DHEAS) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in Italian centenarians

The traditional mediterranean diet is associated with a hope for longer survival. It has also been shown that the red wine possesses a protective effect against the oxidative stress. We studied TAC, the DHEAS and the IGF-1 in a group of 26 healthy centenarians, 17 women and 9 men, of the age range of 100-105 years. Furthermore, we analyzed also serum urate and bilirubin levels between drinkers and abstainers. Most of centenarian subjects have been moderate wine consumers (<500 ml/day of red wine). These subjects were subdivided as follows: (i) Group A: those who had maintained the style of their dietary habits as compared to the previous years (n = 3 males, 10 females); (ii) Group B: those who actually consumed a diet being deficient compared to that of the previous years, but remained moderate drinkers of red wine (n = 3 males, 4 females); and (iii) Group C: those who actually consumed a diet being deficient compared to that of the previous years, and at the same time, were abstainers in wine consumption (n = 3 males, 3 females). The results show that in men three of the studied parameters decreased from Group A to C to considerable extents, as follows (mean ± S.D.). TAC: 302.4 ± 32.3; 142.0 ± 24.1 and 96.4 ± 20.1 μmol/l; DHEAS: 3.35 ± 0.81; 2.52 ± 0.18 and 1.34 ± 0.14 μmol/l; IGF-1: 85.7 ± 6.7; 76.6 ± 6.7 and 65.6 ± 2.6 ng/ml, respectively. For the same parameters, the results in the women were: TAC: 258.4 ± 12.2; 182.1 ± 14.0 and 107.6 ± 10.0 μmol/l; DHEAS: 3.85 ± 0.16; 2.34 ± 0.19 and 2.05 ± 0.04 μmol/l; IGF-1: 89.7 ± 6.7; 76.6 ± 4.7 and 64.2 ± 2.7 ng/ml, respectively. We did not find any significant difference in the other serum parameters between drinkers (n = 14) and abstainers (n = 3) (urate: 267.6 ± 52.9, and 289.5 ± 80.1; bilirubin: 9.81 ± 4.29 and 7.18 ± 2.89 μmol/l, respectively). Our data suggest that the deteriorated diet caused a reduction of TAC, DHEAS and IGF-1 in the centenarians. However, red vine consumption exerted a protective effect against this trend, even if this protection is not reaching statistical significance in some cases (in men), which is due most probably to the lower number of male subjects in the study.