SALICYLIC ACID MAKES THE NEWS

- Fall 1994 "Update" Newsletter Article -

A research team from the enology program at CSU, Fresno has been recognized in a world-renowned publication for linking a certain constituent in wine to reductions in the risk of coronary heart disease.

Enology professors Carlos Muller and Kenneth Fugelsang suggest in a recent article in the British medical journal, The Lancet, that salicylic acid in wine may be the compound most likely responsible for lowering blood cholesterol levels of those who imbibe regularly.

The resulting cardiovascular wellness may account for what has become known in the international medical community as the French Paradox: that while that country’s citizens consume fatty foods in amounts similar to Americans, their rate of death from heart disease is far lower. Since the French rate of per capita wine consumption is far higher than in America, many medical researchers have concluded that the compounds in wine are responsible for reducing cholesterol levels.

Various chemicals in wine are credited with causing these beneficial effects, but Muller and Fugelsang are the first to directly link salicylic acid. Their findings come as a result of recent studies identifying the compound in California and other wines.

As part of a project supported by the California Agricultural Technology Institute (CATI), the researchers plan to further explore the role of salicylic acid in a grapevine’s ability to resist disease.

The compound “is produced in plants as a constitutive and as an inducible defense chemical. Indeed, salicylic acid is so common that it has been postulated to be a plant hormone,” Muller said.

Persons desiring more information may contact Fugelsang through the enology program at (559) 278-2791.

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