Abstract
Studies evaluating the health benefits of alcohol and wine have demonstrated that moderate consumption is associated with a decrease in all‐cause and cardiovascular mortality. Various populations and alcoholic beverages exhibit this effect to different degrees. Alcoholic beverages exhibit multiple mechanisms that may favorably influence cardiac risk potential actions on platelets, antioxidants, fibrinolysis, and lipids. However, other data suggest that the perceived benefit of alcoholic beverages in general, and wine in particular, are the result of socioeconomic confounders. In the absence of more rigorous evidence, it is not currently possible to define the role of wine in human health. Copyright © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keywords: alcohol, wine, cardiovascular disease
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (214.9 KB).
References
- 1. Cook P, Moore M: The economics of alcohol abuse and alcohol‐control policies. Health Aff (Millwood) 2002; 21: 120–133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2. St Leger AS, Cochrane AL, Moore F: Factors associated with cardiac mortality in developed countries with particular reference to the consumption of wine. Lancet 1979; 1: 1017–1020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 3. Natella F, Ghiselli A, Guidi A, Ursini F, Scaccini C: Red wine mitigates the postprandial increase of LDL susceptibility to oxidation. Free Radic Biol Med 2001; 30: 1036–1044. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 4. Rand ML, Packham MA, Kinlough‐Rathbone RL, Fraser Mustard J: Effects of ethanol on pathways of platelet aggregation in vitro. Thromb Haemost 1988; 59: 383–387. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 5. Mukamal KJ, Jadhav PP, D'Agostino RB, Massaro JM, Mittleman MA, et al.: Alcohol consumption and hemostatic factors: analysis of the Framingham Offspring cohort. Circulation 2001; 104: 1367–1373. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 6. Naimi TS, Brown DW, Brewer RD, Giles WH, Mensah G, et al.: Cardiovascular risk factors and confounders among nondrinking and moderate‐drinking U.S. adults. Am J Prev Med 2005; 28: 369–373. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 7. Mukamal KJ, Ding EL, Djousse L: Alcohol consumption, physical activity, and chronic disease risk factors: a population‐based cross‐sectional survey. BMC Public Health 2006; 6: 118. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 8. Gordon T, Doyle JT: Drinking and mortality. The Albany Study. Am J Epidemiol 1987; 125: 263–270. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 9. Camargo CA Jr, Stampfer MJ, Glynn RJ, Grodstein F, Gaziano JM, et al.: Moderate alcohol consumption and risk for angina pectoris or myocardial infarction in U.S. male physicians. Ann Intern Med 1997; 126: 372–375. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 10. Renaud SC, Gueguen R, Schenker J, d'Houtaud A: Alcohol and mortality in middle‐aged men from eastern France. Epidemiology 1998; 9: 184–188. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 11. Beulens JW, Rimm EB, Ascherio A, Spiegelman D, Hendriks HF, et al.: Alcohol consumption and risk for coronary heart disease among men with hypertension. Ann Intern Med 2007; 146(1): 10–19. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 12. Klatsky AL, Chartier D, Udaltsova N, Gronningen S, Brar S, et al.: Alcohol drinking and risk of hospitalization for heart failure with and without associated coronary artery disease. Am J Cardiol 2005; 96: 346–351. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 13. Djoussé L, Gaziano JM: Alcohol consumption and risk of heart failure in the Physicians' Health Study I. Circulation 2007; 115(1): 34–39. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 14. Mukamal KJ, Chung H, Jenny NS, Kuller LH, Longstreth WT Jr, et al.: Alcohol consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in older adults: the Cardiovascular Health Study. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006; 54: 30–37. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 15. Moore AA, Giuli L, Gould R, Hu P, Zhou K, et al.: Alcohol use, comorbidity, and mortality. J Am Geriatr Soc 2006; 54: 757–762. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 16. Frezza M, di Padova C, Pozzato G, Terpin M, Baraona E, et al.: High blood alcohol levels in women: the role of decreased gastric alcohol dehydrogenase activity and first‐pass metabolism. N Engl J Med 1990; 322: 95–99. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 17. Longnecker MP: Alcoholic beverage consumption in relation to risk of breast cancer: meta‐analysis and review. Cancer Causes Control 1994; 5: 73–82. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 18. Fuchs CS, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Giovannucci EL, Manson JE, et al.: Alcohol consumption and mortality among women. N Engl J Med 1995; 332: 1245–1250. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 19. Klatsky AL, Udaltsova N: Alcohol drinking and total mortality risk. Ann Epidemiol 2007; 17: S63–S67. [Google Scholar]
- 20. Gronbaek M, Deis A, Sorensen TI, Becker U, Schnohr P, et al.: Mortality associated with moderate intakes of wine, beer, or spirits. BMJ 1995; 310: 1165–1169. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 21. Gronbaek M, Becker U, Johansen D, Gottschau A, Schnohr P, et al.: Type of alcohol consumed and mortality from all causes, coronary heart disease, and cancer. Ann Intern Med 2000; 133: 411–419. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 22. Renaud SC, Gueguen R, Siest G, Salamon R: Wine, beer, and mortality in middle‐aged men from eastern France. Arch Intern Med 1999; 159: 1865–1870. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 23. Di Castelnuovo A, Rotondo S, Iacoviello L, Donati MB, De Gaetano G: Meta‐analysis of wine and beer consumption in relation to vascular risk. Circulation 2002; 105: 2836–2844. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 24. Klatsky AL, Friedman GD, Armstrong MA, Kipp H: Wine, liquor, beer, and mortality. Am J Epidemiol 2003; 158: 585–595. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 25. Johansen D, Friis K, Skovenborg E, Gronbaek M: Food buying habits of people who buy wine or beer: cross sectional study. BMJ 2006; 332: 519–522. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 26. Paschall M, Lipton RI: Wine preference and related health determinants in a U.S. national sample of young adults. Drug Alcohol Depend 2005; 78: 339–344. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]