One for the road: Alcohol and coronary plaque
As you enjoy your glass of Bordeaux, are you adding
or subtracting from the mix of factors that contribute to coronary
plaque? Are alcoholic beverages a blessing or a curse for your heart
disease prevention program?
Here, the Track Your Plaque no-nonsense Special Report on alcohol and
its influence on coronary plaque.
Mention of alcoholic beverages has, for centuries, stirred up extremes
of emotions. Wine, for instance, is an icon of Catholic church ritual,
used to represent the blood of Christ. At the other extreme, alcohol has
been vilified for its effects on human behavior, even outlawed in the
1920s during Prohibition. We’ve all encountered some of the 15 million
alcoholics in the U. S. whose health is certainly not improved by
alcohol. Perhaps that’s behind much of skepticism over the purported
health benefits of alcohol.
Support for wine as a healthy form of alcohol, in particular,
experienced a surge in interest with the recognition of the substantial
difference in heart attack rates in France compared to the United
Kingdom. Residents of Toulouse, France, for instance, who include
plentiful vegetables, fruits, and an average of 380 ml (approx. 12 oz.)
of red wine per day, experienced 20% of the heart attacks of residents
of Belfast and Glasgow despite similar cholesterol blood levels and
saturated fat intake (Renaud S et al 1992). This conundrum, dubbed the
“French Paradox”, was attributed to the French love of red wine (de
Lorgeril M et al 2002).
In 1995, the Lyon Diet Heart Study reported an astounding 70% reduction
in heart attacks in persons with heart disease following the
Mediterranean diet (Renaud S et al 1995). The Mediterranean diet
contains plentiful vegetables, fruits, olive oil, as well as red wine.
(A protective effect was noted in participants with higher blood levels
of omega-3 fats, also.)
Also in 1995, the Copenhagen City Heart Study reported a 10 year
observation in over 11,000 people that drinkers of 3–5 glasses of wine
per day had half the mortality rate of non-drinkers. Hard liquor
drinkers had an increased mortality rate (Gronbaek M et al 1995).
How much of this can we believe? Has the truth been muddied by gushing
media reports or influenced by liquor and wine producers? Are there
practical lessons that we can take for purposes of coronary plaque
reversal interests?
What we know to be true . . .
Despite the uncertainties, there are several things we
can regard as fact. These are phenomena that have been established
beyond doubt and occur predictably and reproducibly when we use
alcoholic beverages. (A single serving is defined as 4 oz. of wine, 12
oz. of beer, or 2 oz. of “hard” liquor.)
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Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque.