A new study at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg in Sweden claims that an alcoholic beverage a day is claimed to decrease coronary heart disease for 15% of the population. This equates to one drink a day for women (14 g or 0.6 ounces of ethanol) and two drinks a day for men. This purpose of this study, published in Alcohol, was to see how the CETP TaqIB genotype played a role in the health benefits of alcohol consumption. The researchers wanted to see if the 618 participants had the CETP TaqIB genotyoe and carried the B1 or B2 alleles of it.
The results show that the CETP TaqIB genotype was similar in both females and males. "The B2 genotype was associated with a lower coronary heart disease risk, with a similar magnitude in men and women [and] 19% of participants were homozygous for the CETP TaqIB B2 allele. The group with intermediate alcohol intake had the lowest risk compared with low intake, but this was more pronounced in B2 homozygotes than in B1 carriers." Professor Lauren Lissner, a participant in the study, stresses that neither drinking nor the genotype has a strong positive effect; only "the combination of the two appears to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease significantly."
Professor Thelle notes that it may be a simple matter one day to perform genetic testing and determine whether someone belongs to the lucky 15% [because we can describe the mechanisms] ...That would be useful to know when offering advice on healthy alcohol consumption. But the most important thing is to identify new means of using the body's resources to prevent coronary heart disease." In addition, Medical News Today recently reported that "individuals over the age of 60 who partake in a little drinking may experience better episodic memory in later life." I think that this study can open the door to new advancements in understanding the body and why it has positive and negative reactions to alcohol. Like Professor Thelle mentioned, this can promote alcohol awareness if someone truly knows that there is no true benefit for them through genetic testing. However, individuals who are in the 15% may start to abuse alcohol and develop additional drinking-related issues since it is not a lot of alcohol that is needed daily to decrease coronary heart disease.
Related Article: http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh25-4/255-261.htm
This article is very interesting. After reading the original article it seems that they only took about 1,000 people. It makes me wonder what the percentage would be if the group was bigger? Could the 15% become 10% or 5% or even less, or could the precent even rise much higher? And like you said that having alcohol daily, runs the risk of additional drinking-related issues, I wonder where the diminishing returns kick in.
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