Research Background
With an annual consumption of 10.6 liters of pure alcohol, Germany ranks among the countries with the highest consumption and exceeds the average for OECD countries. The WHO recommends measures related to pricing, availability, and advertising to reduce alcohol consumption; this includes the recommendation that alcoholic beverages be sold only in designated stores. Such a restriction—which was also discussed in the EU several years ago—would have far-reaching negative consequences for independent wine producers. The development of non-alcoholic or low-alcohol wines as a means of reducing alcohol consumption is therefore becoming increasingly important for both public health and economic reasons. To increase consumer acceptance of this product segment, which has been lacking thus far, the research project aims to investigate the beneficial biological and health effects of non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines.
Methods Used
Since the carbohydrates originally present are largely broken down after fermentation, non-alcoholic wine and sparkling wine can be marketed as low-calorie beverages that contain a variety of bioactive compounds (primarily phenolic compounds and minerals). The research focuses on phenolic compounds. These compounds are known to exert numerous beneficial effects in the body. These include, among others, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, and antidiabetic effects. In many cases, however, the specific compounds responsible for these activities at the molecular level have not yet been clearly identified. Due to these gaps in knowledge, it is therefore difficult to specifically adapt technological processes to enrich the beverage with these key bioactive compounds. Therefore, as part of an activity-guided isolation process from non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines, bioactive phenolic secondary metabolites that have a beneficial effect on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism will be isolated and identified. Following targeted technological enrichment of these components, the efficacy of a test beverage optimized based on the research findings will be evaluated in a human intervention study (proof-of-concept).
Objective of the Research Project
The objective of the research project is to produce wines with technologically enhanced levels of bioactive wine constituents that, after alcohol removal, can be consumed in larger volumes as non-alcoholic wines and sparkling wines without the burden of alcohol intake. This requires a sufficient quantity and composition of bioactive polyphenols to achieve the desired physiological effects.
Research Institutions
- Rural Area Service Center (DLR) Rhenish Palatinate, Neustadt/Weinstraße Institute for Viticulture and Enology Prof. Dr. Ulrich Fischer/Dr. Patrick Nickolaus
- Technical University of Braunschweig, Institute of Food Chemistry, Prof. Dr. Peter Winterhalter/Dr. Recep Gök
- Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU), Department of Chemistry, Division of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Prof. Dr. Elke Richling
Dr. Patrick Nickolaus