Alcohol consumption is associated with reduced expression of hepcidin, a key iron-regulatory hormone, which may lead to accumulation of iron in the body. Although polyphenols from wine may have effects on hepcidin expression and iron absorption contrary to that of alcohol, we recently showed that consumption of 300 ml of red wine for 3 weeks, after an alcohol-free lead-in period of 2 weeks, resulted in decreased serum hepcidin in apparently healthy individuals (