Alcohol has always been recognised as a double-edged sword, offering pleasure and relaxation when drunk in moderation by most adults, but leading to social and health problems if drunk to excess.

What happens to alcohol in our bodies?

Alcohol is absorbed into your body through the stomach and small intestines. Food slows down the rate of absorption - that’s why alcohol affects you more quickly when taken on an empty stomach. An enzyme in our stomachs, known as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), is key in breaking down alcohol - women’s stomachs contain about 60% as much alcohol dehydrogenase as do men’s, which is one reason why women’s daily drinking guidelines are lower. Alcohol travels through the intestines to the liver and then on to the heart, brain, muscles and other tissues. This happens very quickly - within a few minutes. Usually, though not always, this has a pleasant effect.

Your body can’t store alcohol, so it breaks it down - your livers job. The liver firstly changes alcohol into acetaldehyde (this is toxic), then into acetate (harmless), which is then broken down into carbon dioxide and water

Drinking in moderation

Light and moderate drinkers - that is 2 to 3 units for women and 3-4 for men a day of any form of alcohol live longer than those who abstain or drink heavily. This widely accepted relationship is known as the J-shaped curve. The relative risk of mortality is lowest among moderate consumers (at the lowest point of the J), greater among abstainers (on the left-hand side of the J), and much greater still among heavy drinkers (on the right-hand side of the J). In addition to longevity in general, the J-shaped relationship also exists for cardiovascular deaths, specifically for coronary heart disease and ischemic stroke.

This ' benefit' applies to post menopausal women and men over 40, where the risk of heart attack is higher. In simple terms, alcohol ' thins your blood' and helps prevent the build up of clots and bad LDL cholesterol in your arteries. Alcohol favourably alters the balance of fats or lipids in the blood, by stimulating the liver to produce the ‘good’ high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL). HDL removes the ‘bad’ low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) from arteries and veins for disposal via the bile, which is referred to as reverse cholesterol transport.

Alcohol decreases the clotting together or ‘stickiness’ of red blood cells, which if untreated could form a clot to block blood flow in an artery or vein to cause a heart attack or stroke. The message is little and often as the blood thinning effect of alcohol lasts for approximately 24 hours and one drink confers the benefit.

Drinking alcohol is not recommended if you have uncontrolled, high blood pressure. . You should seek your doctors advice regarding alcohol consumption if you are currently on any medication,or have a history of illness mental or physical in the family.

Healthy lifestyle and the Mediterranean diet

Studies have shown that a healthier, ‘Mediterranean’ type diet, high in fruits, vegetables, fish, salad and olive oil and including alcohol in moderation, leads to greater longevity and a significant reduction in heart disease, late on set diabetes and stroke. Following the five heart healthy lifestyle factors of staying slim, not smoking, exercising gently daily and eating a balanced diet high in fibre, fruit and vegetables and low in saturated fats and drinking between 1/2 and two drinks a day, more than halves the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke.

What the experts say....

The acceptance by many that alcohol forms part of a balanced diet and lifestyle is due, in part, to the growing body of evidence from eminent researchers and physicians that drinking in moderation is not only enjoyable and sociable but may prolong life by protecting against coronary heart disease and stroke as well as late-onset diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and in the words of Plato, the 'crabbedness of old age'!

Sir Richard Doll, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Oxford, sums up past attitudes well:
"The Belief that alcohol was bad for health was so ingrained that the idea that small amounts might be good for you was hard to envisage, and it is only in the past ten years that cardiologists and specialists in preventative medicine have begun to take it seriously"

For in depth papers and summaries on alcohol and health, please visit www.alcoholinmoderation.com and click on to the Gateway to sensible drinking and health. Here, you will find papers and summaries on all areas of alcohol and health. If you have specific questions or queries, please email us via: info@aim-digest.com

If you're worried that a member of your family or your partner has a serious drink problem, contact Alcohol Concern via www.alcoholconcern.org.uk or Alcoholics Anonymous via www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk