Moderate drinking

Dr. Kenneth Mukamal sfindings were published in January 2003. The news just gets better. A study whose Jindings were released in March 2004 suggested that moderate drinking not only had protective cardiovascular effects, but that it was also protective for people with hypertension. 

There is a good bit of scientific evidence to snpport the idea that moderate, one or two drinks a day, intake of alcoholic beverages is healthful. Moderate drinking seems to strengthen the cardiovascular system and to prolong life. Maybe it is worth saying here what a drink is. An alcohol drink is one 12 oz beer, 4 ounces of wine, or one onnce of 100-proof (50% ethanol) hard liqnor or about 1 1/2 ounces of 80-proof liqnor. Each of these contains 0.5-0.6 onnces of ethanol. A drink is not a tumbler full of gin or half a bottle of wine. 

In almost all known societies throughout history, people have used beer, wine, or liquor for nutritional, medical, ritual, and recreational purposes—or just to get drunk. Moreover, the use of these beverages is embedded in a very dense network of social norms and sanctions. There is enormous variety in drinking behavior and drinking norms across cultures, at least with regard to moderate drinking. Alcoholics, by con-... 

Moderate drinking reflects a delicate balance between the desire for alcohol and the social norms that keep it within bounds. Since behavior is more easily learned and imitated than norms, one might expect excessive drinking when a drinking and a nondrinking culture meet. The excessive drinking by natives in colonial Mexico may be due to this fact. The same mechanism applies to Israeli Arabs ... 

Does alcohol have any beneficial effects There is growing evidence that moderate drinking can have a beneficial effect on health. Moderate intake seems to reduce the incidence of heart disease and, apparently, people who drink have fewer colds. However, such effects may be partly due to the other constituents of drink, although alcohol itself is also believed to have some beneficial effects. 

Alcohol definitely affects blood pressure, but this is a gray zone. Excessive alcohol consumption can raise blood pressure, whereas moderate drinking may actually help to keep it under control. 

Happily, today physicians around the world recognize the potential benefits of alcohol consumption, even for people with blood pressure problems. Moderate drinking may actually be good for them. The watchword, of course, is moderation, as it should be for everyone. 

Oral anticoagulants. Control may be disturbed by alcohol inhibiting hepahc metabohsm acutely, or enhancing it by enzyme induction moderate drinking is unlikely to cause trouble. 

Psychological Effects Alcohol and Behavior Effects of Chronic Heavy Drinking Alcohol and Brain Functioning Alcohol and the Liver Alcohol and Reproductive Functioning Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Moderate Drinking and Health The Development of Alcohol Abuse and Dependence Traditional Approaches to Etiology "Biopsychosocial" Approaches to Etiology Summary... 

Moderate drinking (one to three drinks a day) is associated with reduced risk of heart disease. 

Alcohol consumption shonld not exceed moderate drinking. Moderation is defined as no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. A drink is defined as 1 regular beer, 5 ounces of wine (a little over Vt. cnp), or 1.5 onnces of an 80-proof liquor, such as whiskey. Pregnant women shonld drink no alcohol. 

Parental attitudes and involvement in drug use, crime, and violence—In famihes where parents involve children in their own alcohol or other drug behavior (e.g., asking the child to Ught the parents cigarette or get the parent a beer), there is an increased risk of later drug abuse by the children. Parental approval of moderate drinking by minors, even under parental supervision, is associated with an increased risk of the use of marijuana by the children. 

An established and clinically important interaction, although the documentation is limited. Heavy drinkers may need above-average doses of phenytoin to maintain adequate serum levels. However, be aware that patients with liver impairment usually need lower doses of phenytoin, so the picture may be more complicated. Moderate drinking appears to be safe in those taking phenytoin. Consider also Alcohol + Antiepileptics , p.46. 

In recent years, wine consumption was also linked to the development of tumors— but not in a positive way this time. Overconsumption of alcohol was proved to increase the risk of cancer in multiple studies. This is thought to be the consequence of the pro-oxidant and DNA damaging effects of alcohol consumption. But moderate drinking is not quite innocent, either it was shown to increase the risk of breast cancer (irrespectively of the source of alcohol, i.e. red wine included), especially among women with low body mass indexes. These results call for caution although the antioxidant effect of red wine is beyond doubt, it still cannot be recommended as a preventive tool against cancer. 

Table 20.2 An Overview of the health-benefidal effects of beer and bioactive beer constituents in moderate drinking...

To be fair it should be added that moderate drinking does not have an appreciable effect on uric acid levela... 

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