====== Alcohol and the cardiovascular system ======

>Light-to-moderate drinkers tend to display an overall better cardiovascular health and longevity compared with abstainers or heavy drinkers <sub>(Klatsky et al., 1981; Maskarinec et al., 1998; Gaziano et al., 2000; Maraldi et al., 2006).</sub> In addition to reducing the risk of atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, and angina pectoris <sub>(Camargo et al., 1997a; Dey and Choudhury, 1997; Frid, 2000; Samanek, 2000; Agarwal and Srivastava, 2001),</sub> light-to-moderate drinking is also generally beneficial in minimizing the risk of stroke<sub> (Elkind et al., 2006),</sub> peripheral artery disease <sub>(Camargo et al., 1997b)</sub>, hypertension <sub>(Gillman et al., 1995; Thadhani et al., 2002)</sub> and diabetes.\\ \\ Source : [[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1537189112001267|Vascular Pharmacology]] Volume 57, Issues 2–4, Pages 69-71

Although many research groups* accept that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption can be beneficial to cardiovascular health, it's also clear that heavy use is //detrimental// to the same system.

The reasons for the beneficial effects are still not fully understood, and neither is the abrupt crossover into cardiovascular damage for heavier drinkers.

>Further prospective studies in humans will have to further dwell on the underlying mechanisms for both beneficial and adverse effects of alcohol.\\ \\ [source as above]

* //Note//: Not all alcohol research groups agree - some maintain that //any// amount of alcohol is damaging. <sup>[link required]</sup>

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Also see :[[content:medicine:drugs:alcohol]] and [[content:medicine:drugs:alcohol_cancer]]