RED wine could help to protect teeth by staving off gum disease, according to Canadian scientists.

But non-drinkers need not fret. The components found in red wine are also in cranberry juice, as a team from the Université Laval, in Quebec, reported yesterday at a meeting of the American Association for Dental Research in Orlando, Florida.

Periodontitis is a common cause of tooth loss because it affects the bones as well as the gums, loosening teeth. About14 per cent of people between the ages of 21 and 50, and 65 per cent of those over 50 suffer from the disease.

The disease is caused by bacteria that stimulate the immune cells and release highly active oxygen free radicals. The Quebec team, led by Daniel Grenier, say that the antioxidants in many fruits and vegetables — and in red wine — can counter the free radicals.

The antioxidants involved are called polyphenols. The research, reported in the March issue of the Journal of Dental Research, shows that polyphenols are effective in scavenging the free radicals and reducing the inflammatory responses provoked by the bacteria.

The antioxidant properties of red wine polyphenols could be useful in the prevention and treatment of inflammatory periodontal diseases as well as other disorders involving free radicals, the researchers conclude.

In the published study they used an extract of cranberry juice to test the effects of polyphenols on the immune response from a range of bacteria commonly found in the mouth.

They found that cranberry juice was a potent inhibitor of inflammation, and suggested that it could form the basis of a new approach to treating gum diseases.

The research presented yesterday showed that the same was true of the polyphenols found in red wine.

The team does not have any data showing that those who drink wine are less prone to periodontitis that those who do not, and earlier hopes that antioxidants could prevent disease have not been confirmed by properly organised trials. So some scepticism may be justified.

For years it was believed that vitamin supplements, which also act as antioxidants, protected against heart disease and cancer.

But properly designed trials failed to confirm the effect and — in the case of lung cancer — showed that the supplements increased, rather than reduced, the risk.

IN VINO VERITAS?

A study of nurses at Harvard School of Public Health concluded that moderate drinking by women cut the risk of diabetes by 58 per cent

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