The GOOD VERSUS the BAD

TO DRINK
OR NOT TO DRINK . . . that
is the question. There’s a fine line to walk between health
benefits from alcohol and health detriments from
consumption. In the latest news, a large new Japanese study
suggests that middle-aged men who drink heavily could see
their blood pressure rise, regardless of whether their
levels of “good” cholesterol also go up. Study author Ichiro
Wakabayashi also found that the older men who participated –
all in their 5Os – were more susceptible to the blood
pressure-boosting effects of heavy drinking than younger
men. While there are signs that drinking can be good for the
heart and boost good cholesterol levels, “this emphasizes
that alcohol is not for everyone,” said Kenneth Mukamal, MD,
an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School
who is familiar with the study findings. “This really fits
well with the observation that the risk of stroke – which is
more sensitive to blood pressure than heart attack – is not
really substantially lower in moderate drinkers,” Mukamal
said. According to him, an increase in blood pressure might
eliminate any benefit from higher levels of good
cholesterol. Wakabayashi, of the Hyogo College of Medicine
in Japan, launched the study to explore whether high-density
lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol – which is thought to protect
the heart from disease – might play a role in how drinking
affects blood pressure in men. He looked at two groups, one
2O- to 29-years-old and the other 5O to 59 – 21,3O1 subjects
in all. Young drinkers with low HDL cholesterol levels were
no more likely to have high blood pressure than were
nondrinkers with similar cholesterol levels. However, young
men who drank heavily and had higher levels of HDL were more
likely than nondrinkers were to have high blood pressure,
suggesting that the “good” cholesterol did not stop the bad
effects of drinking. When looking at men of all ages, those
with the lowest level of good cholesterol had the highest
blood pressure in all three roups: nondrinkers, moderate
drinkers and heavy drinkers. However, high levels of good
cholesterol did not do as much for the heavy drinkers. Among
older men, blood pressure was “significantly higher” in both
light and heavy drinkers, regardless of their cholesterol
levels. The findings appeared in the journal alcoholism:
clinical and experimental research.