The debate over alcohol continues. While drinking alcohol in large amounts is known to cause health problems (e.g., increases risk of cancer), drinking small or moderate amounts is still debated. Some studies say any amount causes harm, but other studies say "not so fast" - moderate drinking is OK and even has benefits (e.g., lower risk of heart attacks and strokes), especially when drunk with a meal.
A recent large study found a benefit to drinking moderate amounts - it is good for cholesterol levels. When nondrinkers started drinking moderately over the course of the study, it raised "good cholesterol" levels and lowered "bad cholesterol" levels. And surprisingly, when moderate drinkers stopped drinking, "bad cholesterol" levels went up and "good cholesterol" levels went down.
"Good cholesterol" is high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or HDL, and "bad cholesterol" is low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL. Changes in cholesterol levels were associated with how much a person started drinking - the more one drank, the better the cholesterol levels. Improvements were better than taking medications! Results with all types of alcohol (wine, beer, spirits) were the same.
From Ars Technica: Large study shows drinking alcohol is good for your cholesterol levels
Drinking alcohol is bad in many ways; raising a glass can raise your risks of various health problems, such as accidental injuries, liver diseases, high blood pressure, and several types of cancers. But, it's not all bad—in fact, it's surprisingly good for your cholesterol levels, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers at Harvard University led the study, and it included nearly 58,000 adults in Japan who were followed for up to a year using a database of medical records from routine checkups. Researchers found that when people switched from being nondrinkers to drinkers during the study, they saw a drop in their "bad" cholesterol—aka low-density lipoprotein cholesterol or LDL. Meanwhile, their "good" cholesterol—aka high-density lipoprotein cholesterol or HDL—went up when they began imbibing. HDL levels went up so much, that it actually beat out improvements typically seen with medications, the researchers noted.
On the other hand, drinkers who stopped drinking during the study saw the opposite effect: Upon giving up booze, their bad cholesterol went up and their good cholesterol went down.
The cholesterol changes scaled with the changes in drinking. That is, for people who started drinking, the more they started drinking, the lower their LDL fell and the higher their HDL rose. In the newly abstaining group, those who drank the most before quitting saw the biggest changes in their lipid levels.
For reference, the optimal LDL level for adults is less than 100 mg/dL, and optimal HDL is 60 mg/dL or higher. Higher LDL levels can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and other health problems, while higher HDL has a protective effect against cardiovascular disease. Though some of the changes reported in the study were small, the researchers note that they could be meaningful in some cases. For instance, an increase of 5 mg/dL in LDL is enough to raise the risk of a cardiovascular event by 2 percent to 3 percent.
The researchers ran three different models to adjust for a variety of factors, including basics like age, sex, body mass index, as well as medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes, and lifestyle factors, such as exercise, dietary habits, and smoking. All the models showed the same associations. They also broke out the data by what kinds of alcohol people reported drinking—wine, beer, sake, other liquors and spirits. The results were the same across the categories.
The study isn't the first to find good news for drinkers' cholesterol levels, though it's one of the larger studies with longer follow-up time. And it has long been found that alcohol drinking seems to have some benefits for cardiovascular health. A recent review and meta-analysis by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found that moderate drinkers had lower relative risks of heart attacks and strokes. The analysis also found that drinkers had a lower risk of all-cause mortality (death by any cause). The study did, however, find increased risks of breast cancer. Another recent review found increased risk of colorectal, female breast, liver, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, and esophageal cancers.