I’ve always been intrigued by the data that has been released in the past regarding the benefits of a glass of wine every night. I really didn’t understand why. So, when I came across an article in a special edition of Scientific American on alcohol and its healthful benefits, I wanted to find out more. For anyone out there who may want to know if their moderate drinking is good for them and why, let’s find out together…

When we talk about ‘moderate’ drinking it means 2 standard size drinks per day. Anything over this may be questionable depending on your weight, age and sex. But that’s the standard. What scientists have been able to correlate with moderate alcohol consumption is that alcohol use seems to lower the risk for coronary heart disease (CHD). It does this by raising the ‘good’ cholesterol called high density lipoprotein or HDL. HDL removes and transports ‘bad’ cholesterol or low density lipoprotein (LDL) from vessel walls. This in turn, decreases the buildup of atherosclerosis or fatty plaque in the arteries that bring blood to the heart. Atherosclerosis restricts blood flow to the heart and can promote the formation of vessel-blocking clots which can lead to angina, heart attack and death. CHD is the most common form of heart disease in developed countries and causes about 60% of deaths from cardiovascular disease and 25% of all deaths in these nations.

Researchers discovered this correlation when they noted that the large arteries of people who died of alcoholic liver cirrhosis seemed remarkably free of plaque build up. In the 1960s, studies revealed abstinence from alcohol was associated with a higher risk of heart attack.




In 1974, Kaiser Permanente colleagues Friedman and Abraham Siegelaub published an examination of moderate drinking in the absense of smoking. They found a clear connection between alcohol consumption and a decreased risk of heart attack. Researchers also found that in participants who smoked, the beneficial effects of the alcohol was negated by smoking.

Then in 2000, Giovanni Corrao of the University of Milan-Bicocca in Italy, Kari Poikolainen of the Jarvenpa Addiction Hospital in Finland and their colleagues combined the results of 28 previously published investigations and found that the risk of developing CHD went down as the amount of alcohol went up from zero to 25 grams or the equivalent of two standards drinks. They reported that an individual’s risk of a major CHD event, either heart attack or death, was 20% lower than for someone who did not drink at all.

And even more recently, in 2002, further studies of Kaiser Permanente colleagues found that out of 128,934 patients followed from 1978 to 1985, those who had two alcoholic drinks a day, had a 32% lower risk of dying from CHD than abstainers did.

So, there appears to be plenty of evidence that alcohol can benefit those who are at risk of CHD by increasing the good cholesterol and decreasing the build up of plaque in the vessel walls. That’s good to know for any of us moderate drinkers out there. But what type of alcohol is preferred — beer, wine or spirits? Well, that question hasn’t been answered yet and research is still being done. The vexing complications come into the picture due to differences in diet and lifestyles of people who drink. So, it makes it exceedingly difficult to isolate the variables that contribute to a predictable result.

Although with all things considered, it looks like red wine may have more total health benefits overall if you include the antioxidant benefit of the grape skin, and the resveratrol mentioned in this article about anti-aging. But at any rate, it looks as though you can continue imbibing that alcoholic drink or two each night, as long as you don’t overdo it. So, cheers and down the hatch…I think I’ll go get me a drink now. Bye.