Effect Of Moderate Alcohol Consumption Research Articles

Chronic moderate alcohol consumption induces iNOS expression in the penis: An immunohistochemical study.

To investigate the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on metabolic alterations, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), immunohistochemical distribution, and morphological damage to penile erectile tissue in rats. Male Wistar albino rats were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 rats (control group, n = 8) received tap water ad libitum, and group 2 rats (n = 8) were fed with 20% ethanol. Increasing levels of alcohol were given to the rats over 12 weeks. Immunohistochemistry was then performed using the avidin-biotin-peroxidase technique on 5-pm thickness tissue sections. Stained sections were examined by imaging microscope. Alcohol consumption resulted in a significant increase in iNOS immunoreactivity in the penile erectile tissue. Increased iNOS expression was determined in the tunica albuginea, cavernosal smooth muscle cells, trabeculae of connective tissue, arterioles, and the urethral epithelium. Moreover, chronic alcohol consumption resulted in decreasing serum testosterone and high density lipoprotein (HDL) levels with increasing cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Chronic moderate alcohol consumption can affect penile erectile tissue by increasing iNOS immunoreactivity and induce histopathological damage such as penile fibrosis. These abnormalities are also related to the defense mechanism against morphological damage.

Beneficial effect of moderate white wine consumption on insulin sensitivity in patients with metabolic syndrome

The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on insulin sensitivity is actually a topic of intense research nowadays. In this study we investigated the effect of moderate consumption of white wine in subjects with metabolic syndrome. Thirty-two patients with metabolic syndrome participated in this prospective, randomised, double-blind study. The subjects received either Muller-Thurgau (n=14) or Pintes (n=18) sort of wine for 4 weeks. Male and female subjects consumed 300 ml wine (30 g alcohol) and 200 ml wine (20 g alcohol) per day, respectively. Clinical and laboratory parameters were determined before and after the period of wine consumption. The HOMA-IR showed a significant decrease upon the consumption of both sorts of wine as compared to the baseline (Muller-Thurgau group: 1.85±2.1 vs. 1.06±0.6; P=0.03; Pintes group: 2.28±2.04 vs. 1.08±0.6; P=0.002). Four weeks of wine consumption lead to significant decreased of ALT (alanine aminotransferase; Muller-Thurgau group: P=0.003; Pintes group: P=0.002) and A...

Moderate alcohol consumption, autonomic nervous system and mood

The acute effects of alcohol on emotional arousal are inconsistent, with both elation and tension reduction being (self-)reported. To explore the physiological mechanisms that may be involved in emotional arousal, effects of moderate alcohol consumption on subjective and physiological measures of arousal were determined. 28 women (age 18–45 y, BMI 18.5–27 kg/m 2 ) were randomly allocated to 4 conditions in which they received 3 glasses of sparkling white wine (±30 g alcohol) or alcohol-free sparkling white wine while having dinner in a room with a pleasant or unpleasant ambiance. Heart rate variability, skin conductance and heart rate (indicators for arousal) were measured continuously. Additionally, subjects filled out questionnaires (B-BAES and POMS-SF) at different times. Skin conductance and heart rate increased more after the alcoholic treatment compared to the non-alcoholic treatment and stayed higher until 1 h after consumption. Skin conductance was lower in the pleasant room than in the unpleasant room. Heart rate variability was lower after alcohol consumption compared to no alcohol consumption. The B-BAES sedation score was continuously higher and the stimulation score was higher only 20 min after alcohol consumption compared to no alcohol consumption. Thus, both arousal and sympathetic activity were increased by alcohol consumption after 20 min. However, sedative effects of alcohol were not corresponding to autonomic nervous system measures.

Ethanol Inhibits Activation of NLRP3 and AIM2 Inflammasomes in Human Macrophages–A Novel Anti-Inflammatory Action of Alcohol

ObjectiveIn the pathogenesis of coronary atherosclerosis, local macrophage-driven inflammation and secretion of proinflammatory cytokines, interleukin-1β (IL-1β) in particular, are recognized as key factors. Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk of coronary artery disease mortality. Here we examined in cultured human macrophages whether ethanol modulates the intracellular processes involved in the secretion of IL-1β.ResultsEthanol decreased dose-dependently the production of mature IL-1β induced by activators of the NLRP3 inflammasome, i.e. ATP, cholesterol crystals, serum amyloid A and nigericin. Ethanol had no significant effect on the expression of NLRP3 or IL1B mRNA in LPS-primed macrophages. Moreover, secretion of IL-1β was decreased in parallel with reduction of caspase-1 activation, demonstrating that ethanol inhibits inflammasome activation instead of synthesis of pro-IL-1β. Acetaldehyde, a highly reactive metabolite of ethanol, had no effect on the ATP-induced IL-1β secretion. Ethanol also attenuated the secretion of IL-1β triggered by synthetic double-stranded DNA, an activator of the AIM2 inflammasome. Ethanol conferred the inhibitory functions by attenuating the disruption of lysosomal integrity and ensuing leakage of the lysosomal protease cathepsin B and by reducing oligomerization of ASC.ConclusionEthanol-induced inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages may represent a biological pathway underlying the protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on coronary heart disease.

Adenosine 2A Receptor Antagonist Prevented and Reversed Liver Fibrosis in a Mouse Model of Ethanol-Exacerbated Liver Fibrosis

The effect of moderate alcohol consumption on liver fibrosis is not well understood, but evidence suggests that adenosine may play a role in mediating the effects of moderate ethanol on tissue injury. Ethanol increases the concentration of adenosine in the liver. Adenosine 2A receptor (A2AR) activation is known to enhance hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation and A2AR deficient mice are protected from fibrosis in mice. Making use of a novel mouse model of moderate ethanol consumption in which female C57BL/6J mice were allowed continued access to 2% (vol/vol) ethanol (11% calories) or pair-fed control diets for 2 days, 2 weeks or 5 weeks and superimposed with exposure to CCl4, we tested the hypothesis that moderate ethanol consumption increases fibrosis in response to carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and that treatment of mice with an A2AR antagonist prevents and/or reverses this ethanol-induced increase in liver fibrosis. Neither the expression or activity of CYP2E1, required for bio-activation of CCl4, nor AST and ALT activity in the plasma were affected by ethanol, indicating that moderate ethanol did not increase the direct hepatotoxicity of CCl4. However, ethanol feeding enhanced HSC activation and exacerbated liver fibrosis upon exposure to CCl4. This was associated with an increased sinusoidal angiogenic response in the liver. Treatment with A2AR antagonist both prevented and reversed the ability of ethanol to exacerbate liver fibrosis.ConclusionModerate ethanol consumption exacerbates hepatic fibrosis upon exposure to CCl4. A2AR antagonism may be a potential pharmaceutical intervention to decrease hepatic fibrosis in response to ethanol.

Moderate alcohol consumption predicts long-term mortality in elderly subjects with chronic heart failure.

Moderate alcohol consumption is related to a reduction of mortality. However, this phenomenon is not well established in the elderly, especially in the presence of chronic heart failure (CHF). The aim of the study was to verify the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on 12-year mortality in elderly community-dwelling with and without CHF. community-dwelling from 5 regions of Italy. A cohort of 1332 subjects aged 65 and older. Mortality after 12-year follow-up in elderly subjects (≥65 years old) with and without CHF was studied. Moderate alcohol consumption was considered ≤250 ml/day (drinkers). In the absence of CHF (n=947), mortality was 42.2% in drinkers vs. 53.7% in non-drinker elderly subjects (p=0.021). In contrast, in the presence of CHF (n=117), mortality was 86.5% in drinkers vs. 69.7% in non-drinker elderly subjects (p=0.004). Accordingly, Cox regression analysis shows that a moderate alcohol consumption is protective of mortality in the absence (HR=0.79; CI 95% 0.66-0.95; p<0.01) but it is predictive of mortality in the presence of CHF (HR=1.29; CI 95% 1.05-1.97; p<0.05). Our data demonstrates that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an increased long-term mortality risk in the elderly in the presence of CHF.

Observational Research on Alcohol Use and Chronic Disease Outcome: New Approaches to Counter Biases

Background. The frequently reported protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption in observational studies may be due to unadjusted bias. Aim. To examine two new approaches that account for unknown confounding factors and allow the application of intention-to-treat analysis. Method. This study used data from the 2008, 2009, and 2010 National Health Interview Surveys conducted in the United States. Unknown confounding effects were estimated through the association between parental alcohol use and health outcomes for children, because the presence of hypothetical physiological effects of alcohol can be ruled out for this association. In order to apply intention-to-treat analysis, previous alcohol use of former drinkers was obtained by using multiple imputations. Estimates with new adjustment approaches were compared with the traditional approach. Results. The traditional analytical approach; appears to be consistent with findings from previous observational studies; when two further adjustment approaches were used, the “protective” effects of moderate drinking almost disappeared. Conclusion. Use of a proxy outcome to estimate and control residual confounding effects of alcohol use and application of the intention-to-treat principle could provide a more realistic estimation of the true effects of alcohol use on health outcomes in observational epidemiological studies.

Alcohol consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: effect modification by hypercholesterolemia: the Third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2005).

While the protective nature of moderate alcohol consumption against diabetes mellitus is well known, inconsistent findings continue to be reported. The possibility of different mixes of effect modifiers has been raised as a reason for those inconsistent findings. Our study aim was to examine potential effect modifiers that can change the effect of alcohol consumption on type 2 diabetes. From data in the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 3,982 individuals over the age of 30 years who had not been diagnosed with diabetes were selected for inclusion in the study population. Breslow and Day's test and the Wald test between hypercholesterolemia and alcohol consumption in a multiple logistic regression model were used to assess effect modification. Odds ratios for diabetes stratified by alcohol consumption strata and assessed using Breslow and Day's tests for homogeneity indicated that hypercholesterolemia was not a significant confounding factor (p=0.01). However, the Wald test for interaction terms, which is a conservative method of effect modification, was significant (p=0.03). The results indicate that moderate alcohol consumption is not necessarily protective for type 2 diabetes mellitus, if a person has hypercholesterolemia. People who have hypercholesterolemia should be aware of the risk associated with alcohol consumption, a risk that contrasts with the reported protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on diabetes.

Differential Effects of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Performance Among Older and Younger Adults

Studies exploring differential effects of acute alcohol consumption on younger and older adults are lacking within the field of alcohol research, especially those using moderate doses. Previous studies addressing this question have tended to use complex behavioral tasks too broad to isolate specific neurocognitive processes affected by both alcohol and aging. Compromises in cognitive efficiency (i.e., the ability to respond both quickly and accurately) have previously been identified in both elderly and acutely intoxicated individuals. The present study employed a visual-spatial, 2-choice reaction time (RT) task to evaluate the interactive effects of aging and alcohol on cognitive efficiency. Our primary outcome measure was an efficiency ratio derived from each participant's response accuracy (ACC) and mean RT (%correct/RT). Younger (25 to 35; n=22) and older (55 to 74; n=37) participants were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or moderate alcohol dose intended to produce a peak breath alcohol concentration of 0.04%. Participants performed the task at peak alcohol levels. A significant interaction between age group and dose assignment was observed, F(3, 55)=4.86, p=0.03, for the efficiency ratio. Younger participants who received alcohol performed significantly better than did their older counterparts regardless of alcohol condition and despite no differences in performance between the 2 age groups in the placebo condition. Additional correlation analyses between ACC and RT suggested that moderately intoxicated older adults become more accurate as response times increase. This relationship was not observed in older adults in the placebo condition. These data suggest that healthy individuals exhibit a differential susceptibility to the effects of alcohol depending on their age. Unfortunately, because of the presumed safety of moderate alcohol doses and a lack of studies investigating the interactive effects of acute alcohol consumption and aging, most individuals are unlikely to be aware of this relationship between alcohol consumption and age.

Abstract P365: The Beneficial Effect of Moderate Alcohol Consumption on Type 2 Diabetes Risk is Modified by Smoking Status and BMI in The French E3n Cohort

Background - A U-shape relationship between alcohol consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D) has already been suggested. While smoking has been shown to act synergically with alcohol, with improvement of insulin sensitivity in ex-smokers, little is known about a possible interaction between alcohol and body mass index (BMI) on T2D risk. Material &amp; Methods - We investigated the relationship between alcohol consumption (categorized as non-consumers, 2 drinks/day, 1 drink=10g of ethanol) and T2D among 66,118 women from the French prospective E3N cohort, the French component of EPIC. Multivariate Cox models were performed to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) and were then stratified by BMI and smoking status (non-, former and current smokers). Between 1992 and 2007, 1,369 cases of incident diabetes were identified and validated using a drug reimbursement dataset and a supplementary questionnaire. Results - The median alcohol intake among consumers was 0.8 drink/day. Compared to non-consumers, women in the [1-2 drinks/day] category had a significantly lower rate of T2D (HR=0.81 [0.66-0.99]). Higher or lower intakes were not significantly associated with risk of T2D but the pattern of HRs was U-shaped across categories (HR=1, 0.98, 0.94, 0.81 and 0.95 respectively; P=0.04 for the quadratic term). The inverse association between moderate drinking and T2D risk was restricted to overweight or obese women (HR=0.73 [0.57-0.94]). The association was strongest among former smokers (HR=0.60 [0.41-0.87]). Conclusion - The observed decrease in T2D risk associated with moderate alcohol consumption may be limited to overweight or obese women. Our findings also support the hypothesis of a combined beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption and smoking cessation on T2D risk.

Alcohol consumption in mild cognitive impairment and dementia: harmful or neuroprotective?

In several longitudinal studies, light-to-moderate drinking of alcoholic beverages has been proposed as being protective against the development of age-related changes in cognitive function, predementia syndromes, and cognitive decline of degenerative (Alzheimer's disease, AD) or vascular origin (vascular dementia). However, contrasting findings also exist. The English literature published in this area before September 2011 was evaluated, and information relating to the various factors that may impact upon the relationship between alcohol consumption and dementia or predementia syndromes is presented in the succeeding texts. Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with a reduced risk of incident overall dementia and AD; however, protective benefits afforded to vascular dementia, cognitive decline, and predementia syndromes are less clear. The equivocal findings may relate to many of the studies being limited to cross-sectional designs, restrictions by age or gender, or incomplete ascertainment. Different outcomes, beverages, drinking patterns, and study follow-up periods or possible interactions with other lifestyle-related (e.g., smoking) or genetic factors (e.g., apolipoprotein E gene variation) may all contribute to the variability of findings. Protective effects of moderate alcohol consumption against cognitive decline are suggested to be more likely in the absence of the AD-associated apolipoprotein E ε4 allele and where wine is the beverage. At present, there is no indication that light-to-moderate alcohol drinking would be harmful to cognition and dementia, and attempts to define what might be deemed beneficial levels of alcohol intake in terms of cognitive performance would be highly problematic and contentious.

Potential health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption: current perspectives in research

The benefits of moderate amounts of alcohol for a better health and longer life expectancy compared with abstinence have been suggested by the findings of numerous studies. However, controversies have emerged regarding the influence of confounding factors and the systematic errors that might have been inadvertently disregarded in the early studies. This review includes a description of the findings of those research studies published in the last 5 years on the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on all-cause mortality, CVD and inflammation, the immune system, insulin sensitivity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cancer. Promising evidences exist from both animal studies and human clinical trials regarding intermediate end-points of CHD and insulin sensitivity, such as HDL, adiponectin or fibrinogen. However, controversies and inconsistent findings exist regarding many of these diseases and related functions and biomarkers. Further research and human randomised-controlled trials with adequate standardisation of the study conditions are necessary in order to draw a comparison between studies, establish the causal effect of moderate alcohol intake on disease protection and reach consensus on the circumstances that allow the recommendation of moderate alcohol habitual intakes as a strategy for health maintenance.

Differential effects of moderate alcohol consumption on motion and contrast processing

Although a moderate blood alcohol concentration already affects attention, an effect on early visual processing is still questionable. Using psychophysical measures and visually evoked potentials (VEP), we examined the effects of alcohol on the processing of contrast and motion features. In our tasks, two lateralized stimuli were briefly presented, and participants had to identify either the stimulus of higher contrast or motion coherence. In the contrast task, alcohol was found to decrease the discrimination ability and induced a global attenuation of VEP amplitudes. In the motion task, discrimination was not impaired. VEP amplitudes were reduced contralateral to the target position, indicating an effect of alcohol on the deployment of visuospatial attention. In sum, our data suggest that specialized areas for motion and contrast processing within the visual cortex are differently sensitive to moderate alcohol exposure.

Protecting Children From Toxicants

Protecting Children From Toxicants

S02 * ALCOHOL AND THE KIDNEY * S02.2 * ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION AND RISK OF CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE: AN OVERVIEW

Moderate alcohol consumption has been observed to have a favourable effect on several diseases in numerous studies during the past 20 years. Individuals who consume small-to-moderate amounts of alcohol are at decreased risk for CVD, including myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease, angina pectoris and ischaemic stroke, and have a decreased risk of dying. The risk reduction is generally attributed to the beneficial effects of alcohol on lipids and haemostatic factors. The effect of alcohol has also been investigated for a variety of renal disorders. Moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to be protective in the formation of kidney stones. With respect to renal cell carcinoma, higher levels of alcohol intake seemed to offer protection in women, whereas no association between alcohol intake and renal cell carcinoma was observed in men. Beneficial effects of moderate alcohol consumption on renal function are plausible; because vascular diseases and chronic renal dysfunction are highly correlated, and because the pathogenic principles of nephrosclerosis and coronary atherosclerosis are similar, it is possible that moderate consumption of alcohol may also have a positive effect on the development of renal dysfunction. It is important to point out that alcohol might have different effects on future renal function in healthy individuals than in those with preexisting renal disease. Besides some antithrombotic properties, an alcohol-induced increase in HDL cholesterol subfractions has been discussed to be the major mechanism for the cardio- and renovascular benefit of moderate alcohol consumption. In addition, there is evidence that the consumption of light-to-moderate amounts of alcohol decreases the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus and has preventive effects on the development of arteriosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. It is important to emphasize that, as research questions on alcohol in humans cannot be analysed by randomized controlled trials, all research results are solely based on observational studies indicating associations only and no causal relationship. # S02.3 ALCOHOL AND THE RISK OF RENAL CELL CANCER {#article-title-2} Kidney cancer is the eighth most frequent common cancer in the European Union. Several risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, obesity, hypertension and use of antihypertensives, were consistently and positively associated with the risk of renal cell cancer (RCC), although risk ratios (RRs) were only moderately increased. In a pooled analysis of 12 prospective cohort studies, intake of alcohol was associated with a decreased risk of RCC. Compared with non-drinkers, alcohol consumption of >15 g/day was associated with a pooled RR of 0.72 (95% CI: 0.60–0.86). This result has been confirmed in two other large prospective cohort studies. The von Hippel Lindau (VHL) gene has been identified as a major player in RCC. VHL mutations occur in 42–82% of all sporadic cases of clear cell RCC (cc-RCC, the most frequent histological subtype of RCC). We investigated in the Netherlands Cohort Study whether alcohol intake is associated with mutations in the VHL gene in RCC. The RR of RCC for cohort members who consumed ≥30 g of alcohol per day was 0.69 compared with non-drinkers (95% CI: 0.44–1.07). RRs were not different for cc-RCC with and without VHL mutations, except for alcohol from beer, which was associated with an increased risk of cc-RCC without VHL mutations. The inverse association between alcohol consumption and RCC risk is remarkable, because alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of several cancers, like head-neck, esophageal, colon and breast cancer. Several explanations have been proposed for the inverse association between alcohol intake and RCC risk. Moderate alcohol intake is associated with a lower risk for type II diabetes and may be associated with increased insulin sensitivity, which might explain the observed inverse association. Another possible mechanism is the diuretic effect of alcohol, which may decrease the exposure of renal cells to carcinogens because of dilution and a shorter duration of exposure. Several studies did not observe an association between fluid intake and RCC risk. Besides alcohol, other nutrients like flavonoids might be responsible for the observed association. Most studies did not observe differences between different beverages like beer, wine or liquor and RCC risk. Further research is therefore needed to explain the inverse association between alcohol and RCC risk.

Beneficial and harmful effects of alcohol exposure on Caenorhabditis elegans worms

Alcoholic beverages are consumed widely throughout the world. While the harmful effects of alcoholism are well recognized, the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol consumption to human health remain debatable. In this study, we investigated the effects of long-term ethanol exposure on nematode Caenorhabditis elegans worms. At high concentrations (⩾4%), ethanol significantly impaired mobility, reduced fertility, and shortened lifespan. Interestingly, at low concentrations (1–2%), it extended lifespan, accompanied with a slower decline of mobility during aging, although it slightly impaired development, fertility, and chemotaxis. The lifespan-prolonging effects of ethanol at the low concentrations were seen in normal worms exposed to ethanol from egg, young larva, and young adult stages but were not observed in age-1 and sir-2.1 mutant worms. Our study demonstrated hormetic effects of ethanol and further established C. elegans as a suitable animal model to study ethanol related problems.

Dose-response relationship between alcohol consumption before and during pregnancy and the risks of low birthweight, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA)-a systematic review and meta-analyses.

Descriptions of the effects of moderate alcohol consumption during pregnancy on adverse pregnancy outcomes have been inconsistent. To review systematically and perform meta-analyses on the effect of maternal alcohol exposure on the risk of low birthweight, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA). Using Medical Subject Headings, a literature search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CABS, WHOlist, SIGLE, ETOH, and Web of Science between 1 January 1980 and 1 August 2009 was performed followed by manual searches. Case-control or cohort studies were assessed for quality (STROBE), 36 available studies were included. Two reviewers independently extracted the information on low birthweight, preterm birth and SGA using a standardised protocol. Meta-analyses on dose-response relationships were performed using linear as well as first-order and second-order fractional polynomial regressions to estimate best fitting curves to the data. Compared with abstainers, the overall dose-response relationships for low birthweight and SGA showed no effect up to 10 g pure alcohol/day (an average of about 1 drink/day) and preterm birth showed no effect up to 18 g pure alcohol/day (an average of 1.5 drinks/day); thereafter, the relationship showed a monotonically increasing risk for increasing maternal alcohol consumption. Moderate consumption during pre-pregnancy was associated with reduced risks for all outcomes. Dose-response relationship indicates that heavy alcohol consumption during pregnancy increases the risks of all three outcomes whereas light to moderate alcohol consumption shows no effect. Preventive measures during antenatal consultations should be initiated.

Combined effects of chronic alcohol consumption and physical activity on bone health: study in a rat model

Chronic alcohol consumption may be deleterious for bone tissue depending on the amount of ethanol consumed, whereas physical activity has positive effects on bone. This study was designed to analyze the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on bone in trained rats. 48 male Wistar rats were divided into four groups: control (C), alcohol (A), exercise (E) and alcohol + exercise (AE). A and AE groups drank a solution composed of water and ethanol. E and AE groups were trained for 2 months (treadmill: 40 min/day, 5 times/week). Body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) were assessed by dual X-ray absorptiometry and microarchitectural parameters using micro-computed tomography. Serum osteocalcin and CTx were determined by ELISA assays. The body weight and lean mass gain were lower in group A, while the fat mass gain was lower in exercised groups. BMD and BMC were higher with alcohol after body weight adjustment. Trabecular thickness was significantly higher in AE and A groups compared to C and E; cross-sectional area was larger in A and C groups compared to AE and E. CTx levels were higher in A compared to C and in AE and E versus C and A. Osteocalcin levels were significantly greater in AE and E groups versus C and A. In conclusion, the light to moderate alcohol consumption over a short period increased the trabecular thickness, BMC and BMD in A and AE groups. However, we observed alterations in bone remodeling and body composition with alcohol, at the end of the protocol, which did not appear when alcohol was combined to exercise.

Alterations in total and high–molecular-weight adiponectin after 3 weeks of moderate alcohol consumption in premenopausal women

Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increased concentrations of adiponectin. Whether this is the case for both total and high–molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin is uncertain. Furthermore, the rate at which this increase occurs is unclear. Therefore, we examined the effect of moderate alcohol consumption on total and HMW adiponectin. In a randomized, crossover trial, 24 premenopausal women who were regular alcohol consumers received beer (∼26 g alcohol) or alcohol-free beer daily for 3 weeks preceded by a 1-week washout. Blood samples were collected weekly after an overnight fast for measurement of total and HMW adiponectin and markers of glucose and lipid metabolism. There was a significant interaction (P < .05) between the 2 treatments over time for both plasma HMW and total adiponectin concentrations. Within 3 weeks, plasma total (8.2%, P = .01) and HMW (8.2%, P = .02) adiponectin levels were higher after moderate alcohol consumption compared with abstention. Changes over time in total adiponectin were positively associated with changes in HMW adiponectin during the nonalcoholic beer (r = 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.92) and beer (r = 0.82; 0.58-0.93) intervention. Alcohol consumption did not affect the ratio of HMW to total adiponectin or the serum glucose, insulin, hemoglobin A1c, or triglyceride levels compared with abstention during the intervention periods. Both total and HMW adiponectin concentrations are higher after moderate alcohol consumption compared with abstention in premenopausal women. These effects were evident after at least 3 weeks of consumption and occurred concomitantly.

Triglyceride concentration and waist circumference influence alcohol-related plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 activity increase in black South Africans

We investigated the association between alcohol consumption and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 activity (PAI-1act) and fibrinogen concentration in a black South African population presenting with lower PAI-1act and higher fibrinogen than what is typically observed in white populations. We, furthermore, wanted to investigate the effect of urbanization, sex, central obesity, increased triglycerides, 4G/5G polymorphism (PAI-1 only) and BMI on the association of alcohol with PAI-1act and fibrinogen. Data from 2010 apparently healthy, randomly collected black South African volunteers from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study were cross-sectionally analyzed. Alcohol consumption was recorded using quantitative food frequency questionnaires and fasting blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis including PAI-1act and fibrinogen. Heavy alcohol consumption is associated with significantly increased PAI-1act, in the total population as well as in the women separately, and tended to be so in men. This alcohol-related PAI-1act increase was observed in volunteers with increased triglycerides and central obesity but not in volunteers with normal levels and waist circumference. Urbanization, the 4G/5G polymorphism and BMI did not affect the association of alcohol with PAI-1act. Moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased fibrinogen concentration. Sex and level of urbanization did not affect the association of alcohol with fibrinogen. Fibrinogen decreased in normal and overweight volunteers but not in obese and centrally obese volunteers following moderate alcohol consumption. Triglyceride levels and waist circumference influence alcohol-related PAI-1act increase potentially through modulating adipocyte and triglyceride-induced PAI-1 production. Obesity prevented alcohol-related fibrinogen decrease possibly by counteracting the anti-inflammatory effect of moderate alcohol consumption.