Friday, October 16, 2015

The Benefits of Moderate Consumption of Alcohol

The negative effects of alcohol abuse are of no mystery in today’s society. Alcohol dependence can greatly increase one’s risk of contracting a plethora of different diseases and conditions. Cirrhosis of the liver, cardiovascular disease, cancers of the digestive system as well as other parts of the body, brain damage, psychiatric disorders, and increased risk of stroke are just a few of the problems that plague chronic abusers of alcohol.
However, recent studies have suggested that moderate alcohol consumption is linked to a decrease in age-dependent cognitive decline from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s when compared to people who refrain from drinking alcohol.  Dr. Michael Collins, a researcher at Loyola University Medical School believes that this striking discovery could possibly be due to ethanol preconditioning in brain glia and neurons. Collins and his colleagues studied rat brain cultures and observed that moderate ethanol preconditioning of the cells prevented neurodegeneration caused by β-Amyloid, a protein that plays a crucial role in the cognitive decline experienced by those with Alzheimer’s disease. They also discovered that moderate ethanol preconditioning helped to prevent neurodegeneration caused by the neuroinflammatory proteins associated with AIDs dementia. Replication of these results in humans can potentially transform how some neurodegenerative diseases are treated.
Furthermore, in a recent study,researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel examined the effects of moderate alcohol use in a group of patients with type-II diabetes. People with type-II diabetes develop cardiovascular disease at a greater rate than those who do not suffer from the disease and also have lower levels of HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol very important to our bodies. The patients were divided into three groups and were instructed to either drink a glass of mineral water, white wine, or red wine with their dinner every night for a period of two years. It was found that the participants in the red wine group greatly increased their levels of HDL cholesterol, and were the only participants to show a significant decrease in the constituents of metabolic syndrome.
            It is truly fascinating that a substance like alcohol with such negative connotations with regard to human health, is being studied and used in a way that can potentially benefit those who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases and other medical conditions. It goes to show that as scientists we should always be questioning the limits of our knowledge and pursue high quality ignorance.


Collins, Michael A. et al. "Moderate Ethanol Preconditioning of Rat Brain Cultures Engenders Neuroprotection Against Dementia-Inducing Neuroinflammatory Proteins: Possible Signaling Mechanisms." Molecular Neurobiology 41 (2010): 420-25. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.
Oaklander, Mandy. "Here's What Happens When You Drink Red Wine Every Night." Time. Time, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 15 Oct. 2015.  http://time.com/4070762/red-wine-resveratrol-diabetes/


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