Moderate drinking or not drinking at all? Academician Ge Junbo suggests that alcohol intake varies from person to person. Research | Heart Disease | Academician
Introduction: Different studies lead to different conclusions, just like comparing cucumbers and eggplants together is not right. The most important thing about drinking is that it varies from person to person, and the impact of alcohol on health is related to genetic factors and ALDH2 levels.
The relationship between alcohol consumption and health has long been a subject of debate in the scientific community, especially regarding the uncertain impact of alcohol on cardiovascular disease.
According to a recent study of 50000 people published by American researchers in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, mild to moderate alcohol consumption may lower the risk of heart disease as it can lead to a long-term decrease in stress signals in the brain.
But heart disease experts warn that the benefits of alcohol to the heart do not necessarily mean that people should overlook other dangers of alcohol.
"We do not advocate the use of alcohol to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke because alcohol has other health effects," said Ahmed Tawakol, co director and cardiologist at the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at Massachusetts Hospital in the United States, who led the study. If the mechanism by which alcohol reduces cardiovascular disease risk is understood, the goal will be to find other ways to replicate the protective effects of alcohol without adverse effects.
Previously, some studies have shown an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced risk of heart disease. In this latest published study, researchers aim to gain a precise understanding of how mild to moderate alcohol consumption reduces cardiovascular disease. To this end, they conducted a study on the sample data of 50000 patients in the Brigham Biobank of Massachusetts General Hospital.
After adjusting for genetic, clinical, lifestyle, and socio-economic factors, they found that mild to moderate drinkers had a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Through the analysis of brain imaging data from 754 patients, researchers found that compared to those who abstained from alcohol or drank in small amounts, mild to moderate drinkers had reduced pressure signals in the amygdala of the brain.
Researchers also found that among a sample of 50000 patients, mild to moderate alcohol consumption had a more significant cardioprotective effect on individuals with a history of anxiety.
However, the study also suggests that any amount of alcohol intake increases the risk of developing cancer. And if you drink more than 14 glasses per week, the risk of heart attack begins to increase, and overall brain activity begins to decrease.
Due to genetic differences, Eastern and Western populations have different reactions to alcohol. Just last week, the journal Nature Medicine published a study targeting over 500000 Chinese people, which showed that excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of over 60 diseases.
This study was jointly conducted by the School of Public Health at Peking University and the University of Oxford. It studied a sample of 510000 adults from the Chinese Kadoorie Biobank over the past 12 years and investigated the association between alcohol consumption and over 200 diseases. It was found that alcohol intake is positively correlated with the onset of 61 diseases in males.
However, interestingly, studies have also found that compared to men who occasionally or moderately drink alcohol, men who quit or do not drink alcohol have a higher risk of developing certain diseases. Taking primary hypertension and ischemic heart disease as examples, data shows that the incidence of both disease events is about 1.2% in the population who do not drink alcohol. However, in the population who drink less than 140g per week, the incidence of these two disease events decreases to 1.06% and 0.94%, respectively. In the population whose weekly alcohol intake exceeds 420g, the incidence of these two disease events rebounds to 1.27% and 1.02%, respectively.
However, researchers also point out that genetic variations, including ALDH2 and ADH1B, greatly alter alcohol metabolism and strongly affect alcohol intake in Southeast Asian populations. The burden of diseases caused by alcohol may be much greater than commonly believed.
Previous studies on alcohol consumption have been diverse and mixed. For example, in 2017, a magazine published in the British Medical Journal stated that long-term mild to moderate alcohol consumption can cause cognitive and memory damage to the brain, as well as brain atrophy; Experts have also stated that excessive alcohol intake can cause myocardial damage, leading to alcoholic cardiomyopathy, heart failure, and sudden death.
So, as an ordinary person, should we follow the principle that "moderate drinking is beneficial to health" or should we try to avoid drinking as much as possible? To this end, the reporter of First Finance and Economics consulted Professor Ge Junbo, an academician of the CAS Member and a well-known cardiologist. He smiled and shook his head, saying four words to the reporter: "Blind men touch elephants.".
Ge Junbo emphasized, "Different studies come to different conclusions, just like comparing cucumbers and eggplants together is not right. The most important thing about drinking alcohol is that it varies from person to person, and the impact of alcohol on health is related to genetic factors and ALDH2 levels."
He further stated that the ALDH2 enzyme can be detected, but this enzyme is responsible for alcohol metabolism. If the activity of the enzyme is high, metabolism will be fast. The main prediction is the amount of alcohol an individual can consume, but it cannot indicate that alcohol is harmful or beneficial to human health. The latter requires in-depth research to prove.
