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Is it merely a myth that alcoholic beverages such as red wine can be cardioprotective?
Author(s) -
Stockley Creina S.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.5696
Subject(s) - disease , medicine , environmental health , consumption (sociology) , alcohol consumption , demographics , burden of disease , alcohol , disease burden , coronary artery disease , coronary heart disease , health benefits , demography , traditional medicine , biology , social science , biochemistry , sociology
It has been suggested that although the negative impact of alcohol consumption varies from person to person, on a global level the adverse effect of alcohol on cardiovascular disease outweighs any protective effect by between two‐ and three‐fold. This is inaccurate. There is a proven positive relationship between alcohol consumption and cardiovascular disease that is acknowledged by the World Health Organization. For example, moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by approximately 25%, such that alcohol consumption per se accounts for − 4.7% of the total cardiovascular disease burden in Australia. Correspondingly, cardiovascular disease accounted for 34% of the total number of deaths in Australia in 2008, and 18% of the overall burden of disease in Australia in 2003, with coronary heart disease and stroke contributing over 80% of this burden. Australia is not substantially different from other developed countries having similar demographics to, and the same leading causes of burden as, other high‐income developed countries. This article examines the suggestions and evidence surrounding the relationship between light‐to‐moderate alcohol consumption and benefits to human health. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry