Abstract
In the past few decades, research has focused on the importance of addressing modifiable risk factors as a means of lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), which represents the worldwide leading cause of death. For quite a long time, it has been considered that ethanol intake has a biphasic impact on the cardiovascular system, mainly depending on the drinking pattern, amount of consumption, and type of alcoholic beverage. Multiple case-control studies and meta-analyses reported the existence of a “U-type” or “J-shaped” relationship between alcohol and CVD, as well as mortality, indicating that low to moderate alcohol consumption decreases the number of adverse cardiovascular events and deaths compared to abstinence, while excessive alcohol use has unquestionably deleterious effects on the circulatory system. However, beginning in the early 2000s, the cardioprotective effects of low doses of alcohol were abnegated by the results of large epidemiological studies. Therefore, this narrative review aims to reiterate the association of alcohol use with cardiac arrhythmias, dilated cardiomyopathy, arterial hypertension, atherosclerotic vascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus, highlighting literature disagreements over the risk and benefits of low to moderate drinking on the cardiovascular system.
Highlights
IntroductionPublisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
There is an intriguing relationship between alcohol consumption and the risk of cardiovascular diseases
The harmful health consequences of heavy drinking have been consistently reported, low to moderate alcohol intake’s cardiovascular implications are still ambiguous. This heterogeneous response to low to moderate alcohol exposure can be partly explained by race, ethnic origin (Italians displaying improved health outcomes with low to moderate drinking, while the Chinese and the Indians do not), genetic background, and type of alcoholic beverage
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health Trial (MACH I 5) is a multicenter randomized trial to firstly evaluate the beneficial effect of 15g of alcohol daily compared to abstention on 7800 subjects with enhanced cardiovascular risk, aged 50 years or above, followed up for six years. It aims to recognize, with >80% power, a 15% decrease in the risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction, non-fatal ischemic stroke, hospitalized angina, coronary/carotid revascularization, or total mortality and secondarily of diabetes [6]. The references of the initially selected articles, as well as the complete text papers, were analyzed and introduced, when relevant
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