As the saying goes, "drink a little to make you happy, and drink a lot to hurt your body.". Although many people know that alcohol is harmful to their health, they often think that it is OK to drink a little "in moderation". However, more and more scientific research tells us that there is no "safe" limit for drinking alcohol, and even drinking too little can cause health damage. Recently, according to a new study published at the "heart failure" theme annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, the risk of alcohol to the heart may be greater than previously thought**
Although the restrictions on alcohol consumption around the world are not consistent, it is still found that alcohol consumption is closely related to the development of heart failure when it is lower than the so-called "recommended" or "safe" level in some regions.
The researchers focused on a form of heart failure called alcoholic cardiomyopathy. The culprit of this disease is alcohol. Because alcohol and acetaldehyde, the metabolite of alcohol in the human body, are directly toxic to the heart muscle, the heart muscle will become like an overly involved rubber band with poor elasticity and cannot effectively pump blood.
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy is generally considered to be the result of long-term heavy drinking. The so-called "large amount", taking Ireland as an example, is defined as the weekly pure alcohol intake of more than 110 grams for women and more than 170 grams for men. But in this study, researchers at St Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, found that actually drinking less than this amount is still dangerous.
The researchers analyzed more than 700 subjects who had high risk of heart failure (such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, etc.) or were in the early stage of heart failure (with the above-mentioned risk factors and abnormal heart, but had not developed symptoms). Their cardiac function was measured by echocardiography, and they were followed up for an average of 5.4 years to investigate the relationship between their heart health and alcohol intake.
According to the weekly pure alcohol intake, the researchers divided the subjects into four groups:
Do not drink alcohol;
A small amount of alcohol (less than 70g, equivalent to a bottle of 750ml 12.5% wine at most, or three and a half cans of 500ml 4.5% beer each);
Moderate drinking (70g-140g, equivalent to up to two bottles of 12.5% wine, or seven cans of 4.5% beer);
Heavy drinking (more than 140g, equivalent to more than two bottles of 12.5% wine or more than seven cans of 4.5% beer).
The results showed that among the subjects in the early stage of heart failure, the risk of heart health deterioration in the moderate and heavy drinking groups was 4.5 times higher than that in the non drinking group, and they were more likely to progress to symptomatic heart failure. "Our study shows that drinking more than 70 grams of alcohol per week in Europe is associated with the deterioration of pre heart failure or progression to symptomatic heart failure. The researchers emphasize that" this result means that the safe amount we found is less than half of the weekly alcohol intake recommended by Ireland. "
In high-risk subjects, moderate or heavy drinking was not associated with progression to pre heart failure or symptomatic heart failure. In addition, the results of the study did not find any protective effect of low alcohol consumption.
It is worth mentioning that this study mainly investigated Europeans who drank a lot of alcohol. Some evidence from Asian people shows that lower alcohol intake may cause myocardial damage to Asian people compared with European people. Due to genetic differences, many Asians cannot metabolize alcohol smoothly, resulting in more damage caused by alcohol and its metabolites in the body. In other words, Asians have weaker resistance to alcohol.
Maybe some people drink for fun, but various research evidences tell us that alcohol can cause real "Sadness". "This study adds a lot of evidence that drinking should be viewed more cautiously," said study author Dr. Bethany Wong. "In order to minimize the risk of heart damage caused by alcohol, do not start drinking without drinking. It is better for drinkers to limit their weekly drinking volume to less than one bottle of wine or three and a half cans of beer.
reference material:
[1] Alcohol may be more risky to the heart than previously thought。 Retrieved May 31， 2022 from https：//www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/953314
[2] Bethany Wong （2022） Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with progression of left ventricular dysfunction in a European stage B heart failure population。
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