Winter Maladies: Natural Approaches
June Russell's Health FactsHealth Benefits of Alcohol Questioned — Specific TopicsMore Alcohol-Related Studies Examined
A report from the July 27, 2002 British Medical Journal finds that the benefits, and risks, of alcohol can vary by age and sex. Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that death rates for young adults and middle-aged women increased with the amount of alcohol they consumed, even as little as one drink per week. The amount of alcohol associated with the lowest death rates was no alcohol for women under 35, and three drinks per week for women older than 65.
Investigators say that those women who drank up to two drinks of wine daily were less likely to have an ischemic stroke. They reported a 40 to 60% lower risk of stroke compared with women who never drank. The head researcher, Dr. Ann Malarcher, from the CDC in Atlanta, told Reuters Health that the association with wine is probably due to the flavonoids, and other lifestyle factors. The women who drank the wine were more likely to be educated, nonsmokers, and have normal cholesterol. Also, the timing of the wine consumption may also contribute to a lower risk of stroke. Wine with meals may influence the movement of fats in the blood.
Do you need the alcohol to get heart-healthy? This study says you don't.
One group drank red wine that contained alcohol, another group drank red wine without the alcohol, both containing the same level of the antioxidant, catechin. In both groups, the level of catechin rose sharply after drinking the wine, but the drop-off of the catechin level in the people who drank the alcoholic wine was faster.
The American Heart Association does not recommend drinking wine or any other form of alcohol to gain potential benefits.
The protective chemicals in red wine are proanthocyandins, the pigments responsible for the color, and these same pigments are in red grape juice, red grapes, plums and blueberries. Grape juice may prove to be better than wine, as researchers have found that after drinking nonalcoholic wine, the catechin, an antioxidant flavinoid, remained for almost an hour longer in the blood than the alcoholic wine. Since grape juice doesn't appear to boost your HDL, you can add regular aerobic exercise.
A report in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases (1994), shows that wine may reduce the chances of getting a heart attack, but it increases the chance of dying from cancer and chronic liver disease. If you drink wine to prolong your life, then you are drinking for the wrong reason. Several research papers show that the active ingredients in wine that help to prevent heart attacks are probably bioflavonoids and not the alcohol. The Irish who drink alcohol without the bioflavonoids have a higher incidence of heart attacks, so if you want to live longer, get the bioflavonoids without the alcohol. LDL cholesterol that contains bioflavonoids is far more resistant to oxidation and far less likely to form plaques. There are four countries where people eat a lot of fat, but have a low incidence of heart attacks: Holland, southern France, Italy and Greece, but they all eat a lot of bioflavonoids in tea, onions, apples and many fruits and vegetables.
Those who prefer wine have healthier diets than did those who preferred beer or hard liquor - or had no preference. Wine drinkers report eating more servings of fruit and vegetables and fewer servings of red or fried meats. Their diets contained less cholesterol, saturated fat, and alcohol, and more fiber. Wine drinkers are also less likely to smoke.
A Spanish researcher, Dr. M.A. Hernan, of Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA, and his colleagues from the University of Santiago de Compostela and the University Hospital of the Canary Islands have found that those who consume a few glasses of wine every day are less likely than teetotalers to come down with a cold. Over a twelve-month period the researchers followed over 4,000 male and female teachers, ages 21 to 69 at five universities. The research reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed that men and women who drank more than 14 glasses each week had a reduction in colds compared with people who did not drink. The association was stronger for the red wine, and the same findings were not true for people consuming other alcoholic beverages. The results were limited to light-to-moderate wine consumption. As the study did not examine why wine drinkers had fewer colds, the researchers speculate that a healthier overall lifestyle could explain the link. Previous research has shown that flavonoids (antioxidants found in grape skins) have the ability to combat rhinoviruses (a major cause of colds). The relevance between wine consumption and common cold episodes remains to be established. The media reports of the Spanish study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (Sep. 2001) often contained the comment that the "imbibers reported better health." However, there were cautions mentioned by the researchers of the study; "we finished our article alerting against undue use of our research findings, and this study's findings "should not be used to promote even moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages." He added that "alcohol consumption is a complex topic which should be based on scientific evidence - of which our article is just one small piece." He finished by commenting that the results of this study differ from those obtained in other countries.
In September 2002, a study of 19 people by the Dutch Foundation for Alcohol Research set out to see if nutrients in beer could be beneficial for the heart, as many previous studies had shown that B vitamins in beer have been known to lower homocysteine levels.
While studies have shown that wine drinkers are healthier than beer drinkers or abstainers, the choice of beverage may not be the distinguishing factor. A Danish study showed that the average wine drinker tends to have more characteristics that correlate with good health than the typical Bud man (or woman), including more education, increased wealth, and better access to health care. The ethanol produced during the fermentation of wine is a solvent. A study in the September 1999 issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation from the University of Pennsylvania showed that alcohol actually raises the level of free radicals. This puts oxidant stress on organs such as the heart and liver, and causes them to deteriorate. There are bad effects of alcohol to consider, in particular the hazards of working with machinery and driving automobiles under the influence of alcohol. Moreover, there are other proven ways of reducing the risk of heart disease.
In a statement, American Medical Associate Chairman Dr. Randolph D. Smoak, Jr., noted that while the American Medical Association supports the advice to consult physicians for advice about wine consumption, "the label alludes to the positive effects and ignores the potential harm . . . The message that should be conveyed is that while moderate wine consumption, one to two glasses per day can have health benefits, all alcohol use, even at low levels, impairs driving performance and can pose significant health and safety risks." As of today, all American wine has a label which says "Government Warning: (1) According to the Surgeon General women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risks of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to operate machinery, and may cause health problems."
"When you look at the scientific data, for every beneficial effect, I can think of 20 negative effects. But that isn't what the public gets. The public gets the message that it protects against heart attacks," said Dr. Ernest P. Noble, Director of the Alcohol Research Center at UCLA, and former Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. For example, he says that while moderate drinking may lower the risk of coronary heart disease, it can increase the risk of hypertension, stroke and a type of heart disease that produces an irregular heart beat. Alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer, gives the drinker the additional risk of stomach and throat cancer, cirrhosis, automobile crashes and industrial injuries, as well as injuries related to violence and risk of addiction.
In 1987 a study reported that daily drinkers have the lowest level of ischemic heart disease> It was found that the study contained few smokers, a low proportion of manual workers, and few people with low blood pressure and low mean index. These factors are likely to account for the apparent protective effect of those who used alcohol.
Good news for teetotalers. Several much-publicized studies have suggested that abstainers are at greater risk of mortality than light drinkers. According to a new University of California study in the journal "Addiction," people who abstain from drinking alcohol are not at any greater risk for premature death than those who are light drinkers. They found there were important characteristics of the drinking groups that were not always considered in the previous studies, and there were many criticisms from the research community.
The studies lumped former alcoholics and long-term abstainers together in the category of nondrinkers. A new analysis of ten of those previous studies found that those who are former drinkers (male) were more likely to be heavier smokers and marijuana users, depressed, unemployed, and have a lower socioeconomic status, compared with long-term abstainers. Women who were former drinkers are also more likely to be heavy smokers and in poorer health. These factors may be the cause of the mortality risk reported. "Our findings cast doubt that there are protective effects from light or moderate drinking," says Kaye Fillmore, PhD, professor in the UCSF School of Nursing, and principal investigator.
The controversial question about alcohol's benefits has been addressed by dozens of studies over the years. In the Annals of Internal Medicine (2000) a study reported that drinking small amounts of alcohol was beneficial, and that wine had a positive effect on both heart disease and cancer, an effect not seen for beer or liquor. The study of 24,000 men and women in Copenhagen, Denmark, were followed from 1964 through 1976 and were followed until 1995. One problem was that we were not told when drinking habits were ascertained or if they changed over time. Wine drinkers tended to be female, better educated and less likely to smoke, and each of these factors has an effect on lifespan.
A Canadian study in the British Medical Journal reported that martinis have much more antioxidant capacity than either gin or vermouth alone, and shaken martinis scored much better than stirred ones. Despite this report in the media, this doesn't make the martini a health food. Like so many studies, this was done in a test tube, so no one knows if the antioxidants in martinis have any significant effect on the body - maybe the olive?
Antioxidant compounds found in tea, wine and fruits may lower the risk of having a non-fatal heart attack for some men but they do not offer protection against more deadly diseases, as reported by National Public Health Institute researchers in Helsinki, Finland. The study was of 25,000 male smokers aged 50-69 years with no history of heart attack. There was, however, only a weak association, and their findings contradict previous studies, which have shown a stronger relationship between antioxidant compounds and death from heart attack. The consumption of wine and tea in Finland is generally low, and it is possible that the effect of flavonoids are different between smokers and nonsmokers. A report published in the British Medical Journal, a 21-year study of over 5,000 men aged 35 to 64, found that men who drink an average of only two drinks a day had a higher risk of dying from all causes, compared with men who consumed fewer alcoholic beverages. This conflicts with recent studies in medical journals that have indicated moderate alcohol consumption promotes coronary health or that mild to moderate drinkers have a lower mortality rate than people who are abstinent. The previous positive findings prompted the Wine Institute in the U.S. to lobby for the right to place labels on their products promoting the health benefit of drinking wine. Not all recent research has pointed to the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption. One study indicated that drinking alcohol regularly, even at moderate levels, could lead to cirrhosis, a liver disease.
A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine reported that men who initially consumed less than, or equal to, a drink once a week, and then increased this from one to six drinks weekly, had a significant 29% reduction in heart disease compared to light drinkers who did not increase their drinking. The over 18,000 males in this study were physicians with no history of heart disease or cancer, and this group had healthier habits than other groups. Alcohol consumption is notoriously underreported in most studies. Light drinkers and non-drinkers were combined in this study which probably skewed the results. Should men drink more alcohol? There is no simple answer to that question.
A study published in "Circulation," found that people have wider blood vessels and lower blood pressure after drinking alcohol. This increases their chances of fainting or getting dizzy when they stand up.
Alcoholic beverages are now listed as a "known human carcinogen," according to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services. The NTP now lists alcoholic beverage consumption, along with arsenic, asbestos, and others, as cancer-causing. In the February 22, 2001, New England Journal of Medicine, a study points to the fact that it is alcohol itself - not lifestyle, socioeconomic status, or flavonoids - that protect against coronary disease. However, this was done for several years on a substantial minority of individuals with no history of heart disease, but with a genetic variation of an enzyme called ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase). Having this variation results in not being able to metabolize alcohol as efficiently as people with normal ADH, so that alcohol stays in their system longer. Among those who drank a moderate amount of alcohol - about one drink a day - HDL levels were significantly higher, and the incidence of heart attacks were lower than with those who did not drink alcohol. The alcohol apparently increased cardiac protection.
However, we should not recommend that everyone consume a drink a day as a cardiac preventive, as it might cause net harm to society. Moderate consumption of alcohol can result in developing health problems, including addiction.
A study in JAMA in 1996 reported that women on HRT who drank the equivalent of about a half a glass of wine doubled their blood levels of estradiol, the predominant form of estrogen, this was not true of those not taking ERT. The researchers worried that women who regularly consume alcohol while taking HRT could be increasing their risk of breast cancer more than they realize. This study only tracked 24 postmenopausal women. All the women in the study drank the alcoholic equivalent of three glasses of wine early each morning on an empty stomach, not exactly typical behavior.
The classification of 'alcohol abstainers' in some surveys include those who had not had any alcohol in the past 12 months, including those who drink up to 11 drinks a year, and some studies do not include women. As a result there are variable results. Some literature has suggested that light alcohol consumption has a protective effect against ischemic stroke (Palomaki and Kaste 1993), but studies are divided at this point (Camargo 1996). The assessment of 'light' daily drinking as possibly being protective for CAD is complicated by confounding factors such as rates of smoking, hypertension, obesity, and physical activity. In the most important areas of life, drinking worsened the effects on depression. Alcohol and crash risk: There is a slight dip in the curve around 0.02 percent BAC in the Grand Rapids study, leading some to believe that alcohol improved their driving performance at that level. However, this 'dip' is an artifact of the characteristics of drivers who drink often (but not heavily) and who, for other reasons are better-than-average drivers. Studies have shown that impairment in performance begins at levels even lower than 0.02 percent BAC.
Elderly people commonly cite health problems as the reason they cut down on alcohol use. The remaining drinkers become a self-selected healthier group and it becomes very difficult to discern a relationship between alcohol use and a health problem. Alcohol and tobacco are often used at the same time, and there is reason to believe that some of the consequences of alcohol intake are linked to smoking.
A review of 42 studies conducted between 1965 and 1998 recently published in the British Medical Journal found that moderate alcohol consumption raised levels of some heart-friendly compounds, including 'good cholesterol.' Alcohol apparently offers protection independent of any antioxidant benefit, and reviewers estimated that the rise in HDL-C levels alone would decrease heart disease risk by 16.8%. However, Dr. Joseph Vita, Professor of Medicine at Boston University and Chief of Cardiology at Boston VA hospital says there is a theory that raising the HDL cholesterol is what reduces the risk, but nobody has been able to prove it.
Several studies have shown that people who drink one or two drinks a day have less heart disease but other studies have shown that even one or two drinks of alcohol a day may increase the risk of other diseases such as breast cancer.
Two new studies in JAMA show moderate drinking linked with heart attack survival, less heart failure (most media reports failed to include any warnings of the risks). One study was at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Arthur Klatsky, MD, a researcher with Kaiser Permanente's cardiology division in Oakland, California, commented in a JAMA editorial that moderate drinking may not be so good for the rest of the body and 'unresolved issues' include its effects on breast cancer, fetal defects and colon cancer, as well a risk of progression to problem drinking. The authors of the heart failure study, led by Emory University heart specialist Jerome Abramson, said the results should be interpreted with caution, since moderate drinkers may have a reduced risk because of healthier diet and lifestyles, factors that were not included in the study.
Moderate drinking is not in your best health interest. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the lower incidence of cardiovascular disease among moderate drinkers, compared with heavy, or non-drinkers, may be attributable to factors other than alcohol intake. A study published in December 2004 indicated that drinking any amount of alcohol without food could be a significant risk factor in developing high blood pressure. Another study demonstrates that moderate alcohol consumption does not provide renal protection, as previously believed. Another study by the University of Buffalo, Oct. 2002, "Average Volume of Alcohol Consumption and All-Cause Mortality in African Americans: The NHEFS Cohort," (Wu, Crespo, Trevisan) it was noted that in the survival analyses there was no beneficial effect of moderate drinking for either African American men or women when compared with lifetime abstainers. Alcohol - Costs to SocietyEven if you don't drink, alcohol has a substantial impact on you and your family. The total of alcohol costs to society is $166,543 million - approximately $600 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. |