Moderate drinking may boost levels of a hormone that is believed to help protect against artery disease. The findings could help explain some of the cardiovascular benefits of moderate drinking.

"People consuming alcohol in moderate amounts may have a healthier hormone status," Dr. Henk F.J. Hendriks at TNO Nutrition and Food Research in the Netherlands stated.

"The implication of this piece of research is that it further substantiates the notion that moderate alcohol consumption is consistent with a healthy lifestyle," Hendriks said.

Many studies have shown that moderate drinking is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Moderate tippling may lower the risk of artery disease through its effects on inflammation, blood clotting and on the way the body metabolizes fats in the blood.

There is growing evidence that sex hormones also may be involved in the development artery disease. For example, some studies suggest that high levels of a hormone called DHEAS, or dehydroepiandrosterone, may help keep blood vessels healthy. Levels of DHEAS naturally decline with age.

Hendriks and his colleagues set out to measure the effect of moderate drinking on levels of DHEAS and other sex hormones.

The study included 10 middle-aged men and 9 postmenopausal women, all of whom were healthy nonsmokers and moderate drinkers.

For 3 weeks while on a standardized diet, volunteers consumed moderate amounts of beer or nonalcoholic beer with dinner each night. Participants completed another 3-week cycle during which they switched the type beer they drank.

After drinking regular beer for 3 weeks, blood levels of DHEAS were almost 17 percent higher than after drinking nonalcoholic beer, the researchers report. The increase in DHEAS was similar in men and women.

In contrast, levels of testosterone dropped about 7 percent in men after drinking beer. Women's testosterone levels stayed steady throughout the study.

Levels of a type of estrogen called estradiol remained steady in both men and women throughout the study.

But levels of HDL cholesterol, which is associated with better cardiovascular health, increased about 12 percent in both men and women.

The results of the study bolster the idea that moderate drinking may boost blood levels of DHEAS, the researchers conclude. The rise in this hormone may help explain some of the beneficial cardiovascular effects of moderate drinking, the authors note in the May issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Hendriks said that he and his colleagues now would like to study alcohol's effect on other hormones, such as hormones that regulate the uptake and distribution of sugar in the body.

The Dutch researcher noted that the combination of increasing body weight and greater longevity means that more and more people are developing diabetes. Hendriks said that one of the next steps would be to study the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on several hormones that are influenced by the development of diabetes.

"These studies should further substantiate the suggestions from epidemiological studies that moderate alcohol consumption may protect against diabetes type II," Hendriks said.

The current study was funded by the Dutch Foundation for Alcohol Research.

SOURCE: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, May 2004.

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