Introduction: A high dietary intake of saturated fat is associated with increased mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD). In France, however, mortality is low despite a diet high in saturated fat. The high consumption of red wine, rich in flavonoids, is believed to be an important contribution to this phenomenon also referred to as the French paradox . It has been shown that alcohol consumption is associated with an increase of plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Favorable effects on the hemostatic balance, such as a diminished blood platelet aggregation and fibrinolysis are suggested to contribute to the cardioprotective effect of red wine. The adherence of blood platelets to the subendothelium of the vessel wall is known to be of major importance in the formation of a hemostatic plug or thrombus. It has also been shown that the adherence of platelets is influenced by the rigidity of the red cell.Aim: We wanted to assess whether the intake of red wine or a non-alcohol-containing wine capsule for 2 weeks would influence the deformability of the red cell as measured by LORCA (Laser assisted Optical Rotational Cell Analyser, Mechatronics B.V., Hoorn, Netherlands). Red cells are sheared between two concentric cylinders. This causes deformation of the cells and their laser-diffraction pattern is detected by a videocamera.In this study, 7 male, non-smoking volunteers were asked to abstain from alcohol for 1 week before a 2-week period of daily intake of 325 ml red wine in the evening or the intake of 2 wine capsules. The volunteers were randomly assigned to start with red wine or wine capsule and asked to abstain from alcohol for a week between these two periods. Blood was taken by venipuncture at the beginning and end of the 2-week periods at 09.00 h. No influence of the intake of red wine or a wine capsule for a 2-week period could be detected on red cell deformability.Conclusion: From these data we conclude that the intake of red wine or a wine capsule for a 2-week period does not change the deformability of the red cell as measured by LORCA. Therefore, increase of red cell deformability is not likely to contribute to the cardioprotective effect of red wine.