Large study shows moderate-to-heavy drinking increases blood pressure
- From: Dave <djensen36@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:57:18 -0700
There have been a number of studies recently which show that moderate
alcohol intake can be good for you, by raising the amount of "good"
cholesterol. But a large new Japanese study suggests that middle-aged
men who drink heavily could also see their blood pressure rise,
regardless of whether their levels of "good" cholesterol goes up.
Middle aged men were found more susceptible to the blood pressure-
boosting effects of heavy drinking than younger men.
While there are signs that drinking can be good for the heart and
boost good cholesterol levels, "this emphasizes that alcohol is not
for everyone," said Kenneth Mukamal, M.D., an assistant professor of
medicine at Harvard Medical School who is familiar with the study
findings.
"This really fits well with the observation that the risk of stroke -
which is more sensitive to blood pressure than heart attack - is not
really substantially lower in moderate drinkers," Mukamal said.
According to him, an increase in blood pressure might eliminate any
benefit from higher levels of good cholesterol.
The Japanese study was launched to explore whether high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol - which is thought to protect the heart
from disease - might play a role in how drinking affects blood
pressure in men. Researchers looked at two groups of male workers, one
20 to 29 years old and the other 50 to 59 (in all, 21,301 subjects).
All had periodic health examinations.
Young drinkers with low HDL cholesterol levels were no more likely to
have high blood pressure than were nondrinkers with similar
cholesterol levels. However, young men who drank heavily and had
higher levels of HDL were more likely than nondrinkers were to have
high blood pressure, suggesting that the "good" cholesterol did not
stop the bad effects of drinking.
When looking at men of all ages, those with the lowest level of good
cholesterol had the highest blood pressure in all three groups:
nondrinkers, moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers. However, high
levels of good cholesterol HDL did not do as much for the heavy
drinkers.
Among older men, blood pressure was "significantly higher" in both
light and heavy drinkers, regardless of their HDL cholesterol levels,
according to the study's lead author Dr. Wakabayashi, who was not
available for comment.
The findings appear in the September issue of the journal "Alcoholism:
Clinical and Experimental Research."
Dave
Full text article above extracted from http://shamvswham.blogspot.com/
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