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Scientific studies on the effects of alcohol on health follow each other without ever resembling each other, and often even contradict each other. Conducted by American researchers, the latest tells us that light to moderate alcohol consumption could be beneficial for heart health by playing on stress activity in the brain. The idea for scientists is not to encourage alcohol consumption, but to determine the mechanism behind this phenomenon in order to develop new approaches that reproduce these protective effects.
We already know the harmful short- and long-term effects of excessive alcohol consumption, but some studies continue to highlight certain benefits associated with more moderate or even light consumption. And this, although the World Health Organization (WHO) recently recalled that “the consumption of alcohol is never without danger to health, whatever the quantity consumed”. The fact remains that scientists are now seeking to understand and determine the mechanisms at the origin of the potential protective effects of alcohol, in order to reproduce them via approaches that are less harmful to the health of populations.
This is what researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital in the United States have sought to do, revealing for the first time the reasons why there is a link between light to moderate alcohol consumption and heart health. Published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiologytheir work suggests that small amounts of alcohol would in the long term reduce the signal of stress in the brain, and by extension reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. “We do not advocate alcohol consumption to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke due to other concerning health effects of alcohol”however, explains Dr. Ahmed Tawakol, cardiologist, in a press release.
Beneficial, but not only
More than 50,000 people enrolled in the Mass General Brigham Biobank program participated in this study, which took place in two stages. The researchers first assessed the link between light to moderate alcohol consumption and cardiovascular events, then looked at a subset of 754 participants who had performed a brain imaging test to confirm or refute the effect of this consumption on stress-related neural activity. Verdict, the scientists observed a decrease in the stress signal in the amygdala complex, a region of the brain whose role is to manage fear or anxiety, in participants who consumed alcohol in a light or moderate way.
In a second step, the researchers looked at the antecedents of these same participants, and noted a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. A phenomenon that they attribute to brain changes observed in people who consume little or moderate alcohol. “When the amygdala is overly alert and vigilant, the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, which raises blood pressure, increases heart rate and triggers the release of inflammatory cells. If the stress is chronic, it results in hypertension, increased inflammation and a significant risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease”says Dr. Tawakol.
However, this study has limitations, if only because it also shows that alcohol consumption increases the risk of cancer, regardless of the amount consumed. That’s not all, since drinking more than 14 drinks per week is also associated with a higher risk of heart attack and poor cognitive health. “We wanted to understand how light to moderate alcohol consumption reduces cardiovascular disease, as many other studies have demonstrated. If we can find the mechanism, the goal would be to find other approaches to reproduce or to induce the protective cardiac effects of alcohol without its adverse effects”, concludes the Massachusetts General Hospital researcher.