Ethanol and the Cardiovascular System: Friend or Enemy?
A. Shirpoor
Feb 1, 2018
Citations
1
Citations
Journal
Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research
Full text
Semantic Scholar
Key Takeaway Key Takeaway: Moderate alcohol intake may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, while higher doses increase the risk (Kloner and Rezkalla, 2007).
Abstract
Alcohol as an old drug and popular beverage has attracted human interest since the beginning of the recorded history. However, in all societies concurrent with alcohol consumption, scientific debates on its risks and benefits have also been generated and continue to this date ((Kloner and Rezkalla,2007). Because of the major role of cardiovascular disease (CAD) in mortality rates (30% of all global death in 2008, according to the World Health Organization report), the association between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular system disease has attracted more attention from researchers. A large body of studies carried out over the past decades have repeatedly supported a J-shaped curve association between alcohol intake and the relative risk of developing cardiovascular system disease: it was found that at light-tomoderate levels of alcohol intake the risk was lower, but it increased at higher doses (Kloner and Rezkalla,2007 ;Lucas et al.,2005). Recent epidemiologic studies have indicated that light-to-moderate amounts of ethanol reduce cardiov