Chronic alcohol consumption increases the risk of metabolic syndrome

Chronic alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, highlight U.S. researchers in a study presented at the meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA), which was held in New Orleans .

A second study also exhibited at the event for his part stressed the risk of acute alcohol consumption, to the extent that the risk of death after myocardial infarction is higher in subjects prone to excess.

After a period where alcohol had pretty good press in cardiology, with numerous studies showing a protective effect of moderate drinking, new studies are a reminder that higher consumption, whether chronic or acute , cause adverse effects.

Dr. Amy Fan Prevention Research Center in Berkeley (USA) and his colleagues, and examined the relationship between alcohol consumption throughout life and the metabolic syndrome in 2817 aged 35 to 79 people, 25% proved that the syndrome is a set of metabolic abnormalities: abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance or fasting glucose greater than 1.10 g / l and dyslipidemia including increase "bad" cholesterol - LDL, lower "good" - HDL, increased triglycerides.

Researchers are interested in both the total volume of alcohol consumed, frequency and intensity, that is to say the number of drinks consumed on days when people drank. They observed a correlation between the intensity of alcohol consumption and the risk of metabolic syndrome.

They divided the participants into four groups according to their intensity of alcohol consumption. Compared to the first group, the consumption was more moderate (corresponding to a glass the days when people drank for women and 1.3 for men glass), those of the fourth group, characterized by the highest consumption ( corresponding to at least four drinks for women and 6 drinks for men), and have increased their risk of metabolic syndrome by 1.6.

The intensity of alcohol consumption has been particularly associated with some components of the metabolic syndrome that are elevated fasting glucose, hypertriglyceridemia, hypertension and abdominal obesity in women.

In another study, Dr. Kenneth Mukamal of Harvard Medical School in Boston (USA) studied 1,835 patients hospitalized for a heart attack. The latter were asked about their alcohol consumption and usual were then followed.

Excessive alcohol consumption has been defined from a consumption of at least 3 glasses during a short period of 1 to 2 hours: 14% of patients reported having had at least one occasion during the year prior infarction.

The researchers point out that these people have increased by 73% their risk of death after stroke, compared to those not drinking or not drinking excessively.

The increase in risk was found to be similar regardless of the type of alcohol, the researchers noted. The supposed effect more favorable wine disappears in case of excessive consumption, they add.

"If the moderate alcohol consumption was associated with lower mortality in this population [coronary], excessive acute consumption is correlated with higher mortality," they conclude.