Wine Information Council

Existing data have described benefits and drawbacks of alcohol consumption on cardiovascular diseases (CVD), but no research has evaluated its association with the cardiovascular health (CVH) score proposed by the American Heart Association. Here, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis on the Kardiovize cohort (Brno, Czech Republic), to investigate the relationship between alcohol consumption and CVH. We included 1773 subjects (aged 25-64 years; 44.2% men) with no history of CVD. We compared CVD risk factors, CVH metrics (i.e., BMI, healthy diet, physical activity level, smoking status, blood pressure, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol) and CVH score between and within several drinking categories. We found that the relationship between drinking habits and CVH was related to the amount of alcohol consumed, drinking patterns, and beverage choices. Heavy drinkers were more likely to smoke tobacco, and to report diastolic blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol at higher level than non-drinkers. Among drinkers, however, people who exclusively drank wine exhibited better CVH than those who exclusively drank beer. Although our findings supported the hypothesis that drinking alcohol was related to the CVH in general, further prospective research is needed to understand whether the assessment of CVH should incorporate information on alcohol consumption.

BACKGROUND: In accordance with the scientific literature heavy alcohol consumption (>50g per day) represents a risk factor for several diseases development, including cancer. However, the oncogenic role of light alcohol drinking (<12.5g per day) is still unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess the scientific knowledge about light alcohol consumption and the risk of malignancy onset. METHODS: To collect the scientific evidences regarding this topic the keywords "light alcohol drinking", "light alcohol consumption" and "cancer", were used. Papers published during the last 15 years were analyzed, in order to select the most recent evidence. Meta-analyses with well-defined levels of alcohol intake were included in the present review. Other studies that focused on biochemical, molecular and genetic aspects, as well as duplicate articles, were excluded. RESULTS: Twenty-nine large, meta-analyses were included in this review. Light alcohol drinking was not associated with an increased risk of cancer occurrence, with the exception of breast and prostate cancer and melanoma. Furthermore, a possible protective role of light alcohol consumption on the development of bladder, kidney and ovarian cancer and Non Hodgkin Lymphoma was observed. CONCLUSION: Light alcohol drinking was not associated with the development of several malignancies, except for a light increase of melanoma, breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men.

BACKGROUND: Favorable association between modest alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease had been reported in general population, however, whether observed benefit extend to men with established fatty liver disease remains unknown.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 10,581 consecutive male participants aged 30 years or older undergoing abdominal ultrasonography and carotid artery ultrasonography were screened. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) was diagnosed with ultrasonography and exclusion of secondary causes for fat accumulation or other causes of chronic liver disease. Modest alcohol use was defined as consumption of less than 20 g of alcohol per day.

RESULTS: There were total 2280 men diagnosed with fatty liver, and the mean age was 51.8 years old. Among them, 1797 were modest alcohol drinkers. The prevalence of carotid plaques (55.3% vs. 43.4%, p < 0.001) and carotid artery stenosis (11.0% vs. 5.5%, p < 0.001) was higher in non-drinkers than modest drinkers. Modest alcohol consumption had the independent inverse association with carotid plaques [odd ratio (OR): 0.74, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.60-0.92] and carotid artery stenosis (OR: 0.62, 95% CI: 0.43-0.90), adjusted for age, smoking and metabolic syndrome.

CONCLUSIONS: Modest alcohol consumption had a favorable association with carotid plaque or CAS in men with NAFLD

BACKGROUND: Some of the previously reported health benefits of low-to-moderate alcohol consumption may derive from health status influencing alcohol consumption rather than the opposite. We examined whether health status changes influence changes in alcohol consumption, cessation included.

METHODS: Data came from 571 current drinkers aged >/=60 years participating in the Seniors-ENRICA cohort in Spain. Participants were recruited in 2008-2010 and followed-up for 8.2 years, with four waves of data collection. We assessed health status using a 52-item deficit accumulation (DA) index with four domains: functional, self-rated health and vitality, mental health, and morbidity and health services use. To minimise reverse causation, we examined how changes in health status over a 3-year period (wave 0-wave 1) influenced changes in alcohol consumption over the subsequent 5 years (waves 1-3) using linear/logistic regression, as appropriate.

RESULTS: Compared with participants in the lowest tertile of DA change (mean absolute 4.3% health improvement), those in the highest tertile (7.8% worsening) showed a reduction in alcohol intake (beta: -4.32 g/day; 95% CI -7.00 to -1.62; p trend=0.002) and were more likely to quit alcohol (OR: 2.80; 95% CI 1.54 to 5.08; p trend=0.001). The main contributors to decreasing drinking were increased functional impairment and poorer self-rated health, whereas worsening self-rated health, onset of diabetes or stroke and increased prevalence of hospitalisation influenced cessation.

CONCLUSIONS: Health deterioration is related to a subsequent reduction and cessation of alcohol consumption contributing to the growing evidence challenging the protective health effect previously attributed to low-to-moderate alcohol consumption