Atherosclerosis: Difference between revisions

Alcohol is harmful when used chronic or excessive and can lead to various complications such as liver and heart failure, increased cancer risk, neurological complications and injuries. However despite these adverse effects, moderate drinking (US parameters; women: <2 drinks per day, men: <3 drinks per day) may have protective benefits in regard to coronary heart disease according to several prospective cohort studies. These studies showed moderate drinking resulted in reduction of risk in coronary heart disease by 40-70% compared to no or heavy drinkers. This beneficial effect was seen in various groups of people without or with known risk for coronary heart disease and adults older than 65 years old. In a meta-analysis study, alcohol drinkers had lower relative risk for CVD mortality (0.75, 95% CI 0.70-0.80), coronary heart disease mortality (0.75, 0.68-0.81) and incidence of coronary heart disease (0.71, 0.66-0.77) than nondrinkers.<br />