Moderate Beer Drinking
May Be Heart Healthy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Drinking a few glasses of beer with dinner may provide some protection against heart disease, Dutch researchers report.

In their small study, levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a compound associated with inflammation, and fibrinogen, which contributes to blood clots, declined among a group of middle-aged adults who consumed three or four glasses of beer with dinner.

Studies have suggested that even moderately elevated levels of CRP may increase the risk of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, through an inflammatory process. Fibrinogen is a clot-promoting protein that is associated with an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

The findings, published in the November issue of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, add to the body of research linking moderate drinking to a lower risk of heart disease through a variety of potential mechanisms.

"An anti-inflammatory action of alcohol may help explain the link between moderate alcohol consumption and lower cardiovascular disease risk," Dr. HFJ Hendriks, from TNO Nutrition and Food Research in Zeist, The Netherlands, and colleagues write.

To investigate, they had 19 healthy, middle-aged adults consume either three (women) or four (men) glasses of beer with their dinner over 3 weeks. After a week during which no alcohol was consumed, participants drank three or four glasses of a non-alcohol beer with dinner. The diets of the volunteers remained steady throughout the study.

According to the results, blood CRP levels declined by 35% after 3 weeks of regular beer consumption compared with levels after 3 weeks of drinking non-alcoholic beer. The effect was particularly pronounced among those with higher levels of CRP at the outset, including women. Levels of CRP have been shown to be higher among postmenopausal women compared with men their age.

Blood levels of fibrinogen fell by about 12%, while levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol rose by 11% during the same period.

There was no association between beer and triglyceride, another type of blood fat linked with heart disease, the authors note.

Exactly how alcohol reduces CRP levels is not clear, they add.

SOURCE: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2002;56:1130-1136.

Reference Source 89

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