Key result
Moderate alcohol intake is linked to cardioprotection, but excessive drinking increases CV events and mortality.
Why the study?
An extensive body of data shows J-shaped associations between alcohol intake and various adverse health outcomes, but randomized outcome data are lacking and the net cardiovascular effects remain to be synthesized.
Does light to moderate alcohol consumption improve cardiovascular outcomes compared to nondrinking or excessive consumption?
Does light to moderate alcohol consumption improve cardiovascular outcomes compared to nondrinking or excessive consumption?
Light to moderate alcohol consumption shows a J-shaped association with cardioprotective benefits, but should not be prescribed to nondrinkers due to lack of randomized data and risk of problem drinking.
An extensive body of data shows concordant J-shaped associations between alcohol intake and a variety of adverse health outcomes, including coronary heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, stroke, dementia, Raynaud's phenomenon, and all-cause mortality. Light to moderate alcohol consumption (up to 1 drink daily for women and 1 or 2 drinks daily for men) is associated with cardioprotective benefits, whereas increasingly excessive consumption results in proportional worsening of outcomes. Alcohol consumption confers cardiovascular protection predominately through improvements in insulin sensitivity and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The ethanol itself, rather than specific components of various alcoholic beverages, appears to be the major factor in conferring health benefits. Low-dose daily alcohol is associated with better health than less frequent consumption. Binge drinking, even among otherwise light drinkers, increases cardiovascular events and mortality. Alcohol should not be universally prescribed for health enhancement to nondrinking individuals owing to the lack of randomized outcome data and the potential for problem drinking.
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O’Keefe et al. (2007) conducted a review in Cardiovascular health. Alcohol consumption vs. Nondrinking or excessive consumption was evaluated on Adverse health outcomes including cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality. Light to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with cardioprotective benefits, whereas excessive consumption and binge drinking increase cardiovascular events and mortality.
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