(RDMag) - Before reaching for your next cigarette consider first pouring a glass of Merlot.

A new report in The American Journal of Medicine has found that a glass or two of red wine before smoking a cigarette can counteract some of the short-term vascular damage caused by smoking.

“Sparse data exists on the short-term potential vasoprotective effects of red wine in smoking-healthy individuals,” lead investigator Dr. Viktoria Schwarz, of the University of Saarland, Homburg, Germany, said in a statement.

“The aim of our study was to investigate the acute vascular effects of red wine consumption prior to 'occasional lifestyle smoking' in healthy individuals. We found evidence that preconsumption of red wine prevented most of the vascular injury caused by smoking.”

Cigarette smoke can cause acute endothelial damage, vascular and systemic inflammation and cellular aging, while red wine stimulates the formation of endothelium-dependent relaxation factors such as nitric oxide, which improve endothelial function in coronary arteries because of the high phenol concentration in red wine.

The study focused on the biochemical processes in the blood and blood vessels of 20 healthy non-smokers who volunteered to smoke three cigarettes. Half of the volunteers drank enough red wine for a 0.075 percent blood alcohol content one hour before smoking. The subjects gave both urine and blood samples before and after drinking and smoking and continued until 18 hours after smoking.