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For Lower Cholesterol, Make It A Double
 Alcohol's
heart-friendly reputation has just had a big boost especially for
post-menopausal women. Research published in the journal of clinical nutrition
in February 2002 revealed that having two alcoholic drinks, in one day offers
more than double the protection from
cardiovascular disease than one drink
provides. In the long term having on drink a day lowers your risk by 5 per cent
having two cuts it by 10 to 13 per cent according to the researches.
There are plausible mechanisms by which alcohol drinking might protect
against CAD. These include:
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A favorable effect on
HDL cholesterol
concentration (an increased level)
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A similarly favorable effect upon apolipoproteins, and
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An antithrombotic action.
Controversy about protection persists, however, on the grounds that
correlates of abstinence and lighter drinking could explain the higher risk of
abstainers.
 In
the study, one drink (15g alcohol -what you will typically consume in a 330 ml
bottle of beer at a 125ml glass of wine) was shown to reduce levels of bad
cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein or LDL) and triglycerides in the blood.
That's good because LDL can build up on artery walls restricting blood flow and
increasing your risk for heart disease. High levels of triglycerides are also a
risk factor for heart disease. But a second drink protects in a different way by
raising levels of good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein or HDL) which
ushers harmful LDL out of the body. The polyphenolic
antioxidants present in red wine, for
example, resveratrol and proanthocyanidins, provide cardio-protection by their
ability to function as in vivo antioxidants while its alcoholic component or
alcohol by itself imparts cardio-protection by adapting the hearts to oxidative
stress.
Research Findings on association between
intake of different types of alcoholic drinks and mortality:
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 The
relative risk of death from CVD was reduced from 1.00 in nondrinkers
to 0.4 for those who drank 3–5 glasses of wine/d. The
cardio-protective effects of red wine have been attributed to
several polyphenolic antioxidants including resveratrol and
proanthocyanidins. With respect to the intake of beer, 3–5 bottles/d
conveyed a reduction in risk of 0.72 compared with not drinking
beer. Conversely, the results related to the intake of distilled
alcohol products exhibited different trends, mainly that weekly or
daily consumption actually increased the relative risk of CVD to
1.35.
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The researches followed 51 women at or near age 60 for three eight week period.
The women all ate the same diet but, a third had two drinks a day, a third had
one drink, and a third had none. Blood sample measurements showed that the
alcohol brought down LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in both groups who drank.
But only the women who had two drinks a day increased their levels of HDL
cholesterol. The results are particularly significant for women over 50, since a
women's risk of heart disease rises sharply after menopause.
Keep in mind that alcohol can have other negative effects. For instance
drinking too much can harm the liver. And the heart benefits stop with that
second drink. A third does more harm than good actually raising triglyceride
levels.
IN THE LONG TERM HAVING ONE DRINK A DAY LOWER YOUR RISKS BY 5 PER CENT
HAVING TWO CUTS IT BY 10 TO 13 PER CENT.
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