Can alcohol benefit health?
Since about 10,000 years ago, humans have been enjoying drinking fermented beverages, and they have also been carefully mentioning their benefits and harms. The debate still rages today, with heated exchanges about whether alcohol is good or bad for your health.
It can be said that alcohol is both a tonic and a poison. The difference mainly lies in dosage. Moderate alcohol consumption appears to be good for the heart and circulatory system and may protect against type 2 diabetes and gallstones. Excessive alcohol consumption is the leading cause of preventable death in most countries.
In the United States, alcohol is involved in about half of traffic deaths. Drinking too much alcohol can harm the liver and heart, harm an unborn baby, increase the risk of developing breast cancer and some other cancers, contribute to depression and violence, and interfere with relationships.
What is moderate alcohol consumption? What are drinks?
The ambiguous use of the terms “moderate” and “one drink” has sparked some ongoing debate about the health effects of alcohol.
In some studies, the term "moderate drinking" refers to less than one drink per day, while in others it means 3 to 4 drinks per day. What exactly constitutes a “drink” is pretty fluid. In fact, even among oenologists, there is no widely accepted standard definition of a drink.
In the United States, a drink is generally considered to be 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ½ ounces of spirits (spirits such as gin or whiskey). Each type provides an average of about 12 to 14 grams of alcohol, but this range is wider as microbrews and wines are produced with higher alcohol content.
The Dark Side of Alcohol
Not everyone who likes to drink alcohol can stop at just one glass. Although many people drink in moderation, others do not.
Excessive alcohol consumption can have harmful and lasting effects on the body. It can cause liver inflammation (alcoholic hepatitis) and lead to liver scarring (cirrhosis), a potentially fatal condition.
This can increase blood pressure and damage the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy). Excessive alcohol consumption has also been linked to some cancers: The World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research say there is convincing evidence that alcohol is linked to oral cancer, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, breast, liver, colon, and rectum.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer has concluded that the ethanol found in alcohol and acetaldehyde, a chemical formed from the breakdown of ethanol, may be carcinogenic to humans in large quantities. The risk increases fold for people who drink alcohol and smoke or have a poor diet.
Alcohol and Weight Gain
An average serving of alcohol contains 100 to 150 calories, so even a moderate amount of 3 drinks per day can provide more than 300 calories. Mixed drinks with added juice, tonic, or syrup increase the calorie count even further, increasing the risk of weight gain over time.
What are some possible health benefits associated with moderate alcohol consumption?
Cardiovascular disease
More than 100 prospective studies show an association between the risk of heart attack and stroke ( blood clots), sudden cardiac death, peripheral vascular disease, and light to moderate alcohol consumption. The effect is quite stable, corresponding to a risk reduction of 25 to 40%. However, increasing alcohol consumption beyond the number of drinks per day can increase the risk of high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythm, stroke, heart attack, and death.
Drinking habits matter
What you drink (beer or wine) seems less important than how you drink. Drinking 7 drinks on Saturday night and then not drinking for the rest of the week is not at all equivalent to drinking 1 drink a day.
The weekly total may be the same, but the health consequences are not. Among participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, drinking alcohol at least three or four days per week was inversely associated with the risk of myocardial infarction. The amount consumed, less than 10 grams per day or more than 30 grams, appears to be less important than the regularity of consumption. A similar trend was observed in Danish men.
Beyond the Heart
The benefits of moderate alcohol consumption are not limited to the heart. In the Nurses' Health Study, the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and other studies, gallstones and type 2 diabetes When compared to non-drinkers, were less likely to occur in moderate drinkers... Here as elsewhere, there is an emphasis on moderate consumption.
Genes play a role
Twin, family, and adoption studies have clearly demonstrated that genetics play an important role in determining an individual's drinking preferences and ability to develop alcoholism. Alcoholism does not follow the simple rules of inheritance laid down by Gregor Mendel. Instead, it is influenced by many genes that interact with each other and with environmental factors.
Changing benefits and risks
The benefits and risks of moderate alcohol consumption change over the lifespan. In general, the risks outweigh the benefits until middle age, when cardiovascular disease begins to account for an increasingly larger share of the burden of disease and death.
- For pregnant women and their fetuses, recovering alcoholics, people with liver disease, and people taking one or more drugs that interact with alcohol, moderate alcohol consumption offers few benefits and potential risks. significant risk.
- For a 30-year-old man, the increased risk of alcohol-related accidents outweighs the possible cardiac benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.
- For a 60-year-old man, drinking one drink a day may help protect against heart disease, which may outweigh the potential harm (assuming he is not prone to alcoholism).
- For a 60-year-old woman, the benefit/risk calculation is more complicated. The percentage of women dying from heart disease (460,000) every year is ten times twice as high compared to breast cancer (41,000). However, studies show that women fear breast cancer more than heart disease, which needs to be factored into the equation.
Balancing Risks and Benefits
Given the complexity of alcohol's effects on the body and the complexity of people who drink alcohol, general recommendations about alcohol are unnecessary. Because each of us has our own personal and family history, alcohol presents each person with different benefits and risks. Whether or not to drink alcohol, especially for “medical” purposes, requires a careful balance between these benefits and these risks.
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