Heavy drinking may age arteries

Excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of alcohol dependency, cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure and obesity, stroke, certain types of cancer, suicide and accidents. PHOTO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • Excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of alcohol dependency, cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure and obesity, stroke, certain types of cancer, suicide and accidents.
  • “It’s been suggested alcohol intake may increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels – the good cholesterol – or decrease platelet stickiness.

Heavy alcohol drinkling habits over the years may prematurely age arteries, especially in men, putting them at an increased risk of heart disease, the American Heart Association wrote on its website on Tuesday, citing a new British research in its journal with the American Stroke Association.

Drinking too much can affect the elasticity of the arterial walls – arterial stiffness – and prematurely age the arteries, interfering with blood flow. Moreover, researchers found that male former drinkers were at risk of accelerated rates of arterial stiffness compared to moderate drinkers who were in early old age. This observation was not found in females; the study had 3,869 participants, of which 73 per cent were male.

The question is how much alcohol is too much and at what point does it start to cause damage to the arteries?

Consistent long-term, heavy drinking was defined in this British study as more than 112g of ethanol per week – or 14 British units, where one unit is roughly equivalent to one serving of alcoholic spirit, half a pint of beer, or half a glass of wine. Consistent moderate drinking was defined as 1 to 112 grams of ethanol per week.

Excessive alcohol consumption increases the risk of alcohol dependency, cardiovascular risk factors including high blood pressure and obesity, stroke, certain types of cancer, suicide and accidents.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, contributing to nearly one-third of deaths, researchers say.

How alcohol may impact arterial health is unclear, says Darragh O’Neill, PhD, the lead author of the study and an epidemiological researcher at University College London: “It’s been suggested alcohol intake may increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels – the good cholesterol – or decrease platelet stickiness. Conversely, heavier alcohol intake may activate certain enzymes that would lead to collagen accumulation, which could, in turn exacerbate the rate of arterial stiffening”.

The paper is titled “Twenty-Five-Year Alcohol Consumption Trajectories and Their Association With Arterial Aging: A Prospective Cohort Study”. It is in the Journal of the American Heart Association.