May Alcohol-Induced Increase of HDL Be Considered as Atheroprotective?

It is well known that the consumption of moderate doses ofalcohol leads to the increase of HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C).Atheroprotectivity of HDL particles is based primarily on their rolein reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). In the study with a crossover design 13 male volunteers were studied in two differentregimens: i) drinking of 36 g alcohol daily and ii) drinking onlynon-alcoholic beverages, to test whether alcohol-inducedincrease of HDL cholesterol can affect cholesterol efflux (CHE)from cell culture of labeled human macrophages. Alcoholconsumption induced significant (p<0.05) increases of HDLcholesterol from 1.25±0.32 to 1.34±0.38 mmol/l and Apo A1from 1.34±0.16 to 1.44±0.19 g/l. These changes were combinedwith a slight increase of cholesterol efflux from 13.8±2.15 to14.9±1.85 % (p=0.059). There were significant correlationsbetween individual changes of HDL-C and Apo A1 concentrationsand individual changes of CHE (0.51 and 0.60, respectively). Inconclusion, moderate alcohol consumption changes the capacityof plasma to induce CHE only at a border line significance.