Health Benefits of Moderate Alcohol Intake

In contrast to excessive alcohol intake, moderate alcohol intake has been shown to provide health benefits. The data is most convincing for preventing heart disease in middle-aged and older people. A review of twenty-nine studies concluded that moderate alcohol intake reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by about 30 percent in comparison to those who do not consume alcohol.Ronksley, P. E. et al. “Association of Alcohol Consumption with Selected Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” BMJ 342, no. d671 (2011). doi: 10.1136/bmj.d671. Several other studies demonstrate that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the incidences of stroke and heart attack, and also death caused by cardiovascular and heart disease. The drop in risk for these adverse events ranges between percent. Moreover, there is some scientific evidence that moderate alcohol intake reduces the risk for metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, and gallstones. In addition to providing some health benefits, moderate alcohol intake has long served as a digestive aid and a source of comfort and relaxation, and it induces social interaction, thereby benefiting all aspects of the health triangle. It has not been clearly demonstrated that moderate alcohol consumption benefits younger populations, and the risks of any alcohol consumption do not outweigh the benefits for pregnant women, those who are taking medications that interact with alcohol, and those who are unable to drink in moderation.

Health Consequences of Alcohol Abuse

Distilled spirits have exceptionally few nutrients, but beer and wine do provide some nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial plant chemicals along with calories. A typical beer is 150 kilocalories, a glass of wine contains approximately 80 kilocalories, and an ounce of hard liquor (without mixer) is around 65 kilocalories. Alcoholic drinks in excess contribute to weight gain by substantially increasing caloric intake. However, alcohol displays its two-faced character again in its effects on body weight, making many scientific studies contradictory. Multiple studies show high intakes of hard liquor are linked to weight gain, although this may be the result of the regular consumption of hard liquor with sugary soft drinks, juices, and other mixers. On the other hand drinking beer and, even more so, red wine, is not consistently linked to weight gain and in some studies actually decreases weight gain. The contradictory results of scientific studies that have examined the association of alcohol intake with body weight are partly due to the fact that alcohol contributes calories to the diet, but when drunk in excess reduces the secretion of pancreatic juice and damages the lining of the gastrointestinal system, impairing nutrient digestion and absorption. The impaired digestion and absorption of nutrients in alcoholics contributes to their characteristic “skinniness” and multiple associated micronutrient deficiencies. The most common macronutrient deficiency among alcoholics is water, as it is excreted in excess. Commonly associated micronutrient deficiencies include thiamine, pyridoxine, folate, vitamin A, magnesium, calcium, and zinc. Furthermore, alcoholics typically replace calories from alcohol with those of nutritious foods, sometimes getting 50 percent or more of their daily caloric intake from alcoholic beverages.

Effects of Alcohol Abuse on the Liver

According to the CDC, 14,406 Americans died from alcohol-related liver diseases in 2007. Although not every alcoholic or heavy drinker will die from liver problems, the liver is one of the body’s main filtering organs and is severely stressed by alcohol abuse. The term Alcoholic Liver Disease (ALD)Liver problems linked to excessive alcohol intake including fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. is used to describe liver problems linked to excessive alcohol intake. ALD can be progressive, with individuals first suffering from a fatty liver and going on to develop cirrhosis. It is also possible to have different forms of ALD at the same time.

Figure 7.10 Liver Cirrhosis

Excessive alcohol consumption causes the destruction of liver cells. In an attempt to repair itself, the liver initiates an inflammatory and reparation process causing scar tissue to form. In the liver’s attempt to replace the dead cells, surviving liver cells multiply. The result is clusters of newly formed liver cells, also called regenerative nodules, within the scar tissue. This state is called cirrhosis of the liver.

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The three most common forms of ALD are:

• Fatty liver. A rather benign disorder that develops after excessive alcohol consumption; however it can progress to more fatal diseases. Fatty liver is reversible if alcohol use is brought under control.
• Alcoholic hepatitis. The symptoms of this alcohol-induced liver inflammation are a swollen liver, abdominal pain, nausea, fever, jaundice, and vomiting. Although linked to alcohol use, even people who drink moderately can sometimes develop this condition, and not all alcohol abusers do. If a person stops drinking alcohol, the liver damage can be reversed. But if they continue, cirrhosis may develop and death can result.
• Cirrhosis. This serious and sometimes fatal form of ALD develops when liver cells die and form scar tissue, which blocks blood flow and causes wastes and toxins to build up in the system. Strictly speaking, cirrhosis cannot be cured. It can, however, be stopped with medical treatment and complications can be managed if the individual stops drinking, and many do survive. Not all cases of cirrhosis are strictly due to alcoholism, and not all alcoholics develop the disease. Symptoms of cirrhosis include the buildup of abdominal fluid (ascites), abdominal pain, fever, thirst, confusion, and fatigue.

Typical Doses and Dietary Sources

What is a “moderate intake” of caffeine? Caffeine intakes are described in the following manner:

• Low–moderate intake. 130–300 milligrams per day
• Moderate intake. 200–300 milligrams per day
• High intake. 400 or more milligrams per day

The average caffeine consumption for American adults is considered moderate at 280 milligrams per day, although it is not uncommon for people to consume up to 600 milligrams per day. This works out to almost 4 ½ cups of coffee per day. The bitter taste of caffeine is palatable for many and coffee is the most readily available source of it, accounting for 70 percent of daily caffeine consumption. The second readily available source of caffeine is soft drinks, delivering 16 percent of daily caffeine. (In this case, the bitter caffeine taste is usually masked by a large amount of added sugar.) Tea is the third common source of caffeine, at 12 percent.

Just how much caffeine is there in a cup of coffee? It varies. The caffeine content of an average cup of coffee can range from 102 to 200 milligrams, and the range for tea is 40 to 120 milligrams. Table 7.13 "Caffeine Content in Various Beverages and Foods" provides useful information on the levels of caffeine found in common beverages. When estimating your total caffeine consumption remember its not only in beverages, but also some foods and medicine.

Health Benefits

The most renowned effects of caffeine on the body are increased alertness and delay of fatigue and sleep. How does caffeine stimulate the brain? Watch Note 7.55 "Video 7.7" to see a graphic account of a brain on caffeine. Caffeine is chemically similar to a chemical in our brains (adenosine). Caffeine interacts with adenosine’s specific protein receptor. It blocks the actions of the adenosine, and affects the levels of signaling molecules in the brain, leading to an increase in energy metabolism. At the molecular level, caffeine stimulates the brain, increasing alertness and causing a delay of fatigue and sleep. At high doses caffeine stimulates the motor cortex of the brain and interferes with the sleep-wake cycle, causing side effects such as shakiness, anxiety, and insomnia. People’s sensitivity to the adverse effects of caffeine varies and some people develop side effects at much lower doses. The many effects caffeine has on the brain do not diminish with habitual drinking of caffeinated beverages.

It is important to note that caffeine has some effects on health that are either promoted or masked by the other beneficial chemicals found in coffee and tea. This means that when assessing the benefits and consequences of your caffeine intake, you must take into account how much caffeine in your diet comes from coffee and tea versus how much you obtain from soft drinks.

The coffee industry is a billion-dollar industry. Coffee is one of the most widely distributed beverages in the world.

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There is a good amount of scientific evidence supporting that higher consumption of caffeine, mostly in the form of coffee, substantially reduces the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. There is a lesser amount of evidence suggesting increased coffee consumption lowers the risk of heart attacks in both men and women, and strokes in women. In smaller population studies, decaffeinated coffee sometimes performs as well as caffeinated coffee, bringing up the hypothesis that there are beneficial chemicals in coffee other than caffeine that play larger roles in the health benefits of coffee. A review of fifteen epidemiological studies in The Journal of the American Medical Association proposes that habitual coffee consumption reduces the risk of Type 2 diabetes.van Dam, R. M., PhD and F. B. Hu, M.D., PhD “Coffee Consumption and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review.” JAMA 294, no. 1 (2005): 97–104. doi: 10.1001/jama.294.1.97. The risk reduction was 35 percent for those who consumed greater than 6–7 cups of coffee per day and was 28 percent for those who consumed 4–5 cups daily. These groups were compared with people who consumed less than 2 cups of coffer per day. Parkinson’s disease is an illness of the central nervous system causing many disorders of movement. Research scientists in Hawaii found an inverse relationship between caffeine intake and the incidence of Parkinson’s disease. In fact, men who did not consume coffee had a five times more likely chance of Parkinson’s disease than men who consumed more than 3 cups of coffee daily.Ross, G. W. et al. “Association of Coffee and Caffeine Intake with the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease.” JAMA 283, no. 20 (2000): 2674–79. doi: 10.1001/jama.283.20.2674. In this study other caffeine sources, such as soft drinks and tea, were also associated with a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease. A review of several studies, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, has reaffirmed that caffeine intake may reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.Costa, J. et al. “Caffeine Exposure and the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.” J Alzheimers Dis 20 (2010). Supplement 1: S221–38. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20182023. This review also took into consideration caffeine obtained from dietary sources other than caffeine, though the data on these is not as extensive or as strong as for coffee. There is also some scientific evidence that drinking coffee is linked to a much lower risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.Patil, H., C. J. Lavie, J. H. O’Keefe. “Cuppa Joe: Friend or Foe? Effects of Chronic Coffee Consumption on Cardiovascular and Brain Health.” Missouri Medical 108, no. 6 (November–December 2011): 431–8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22338737.

Health Consequences

The acute adverse health effects of caffeine ingestion are anxiety, shakiness, and sleep deprivation. On a more chronic basis, some scientific reports suggest that higher caffeine intake is linked to negative effects on heart health and increased cardiovascular disease; although at this point most data suggests caffeine does not significantly increase either. A comprehensive review published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that caffeine induces a modest increase in blood pressure lasting less than three hours in people with hypertension, but there is no evidence that habitual coffee consumption increases blood pressure long-term or increases the risk for cardiovascular disease.Mesas, A. E. et al. “The Effect of Coffee on Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Disease in Hypertensive Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Am J Clin Nutr 94, no. 4 (2011): 1113–26. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21880846. There is no good evidence that chronic caffeine exposure increases blood pressure chronically in people without hypertension.

Some have hypothesized that caffeine elevates calcium excretion and therefore could potentially harm bones. The scientific consensus at this time is that caffeine minimally affects calcium levels and intake is not associated with any increased risk for osteoporosis or the incidence of fractures in most women. Although the effect of caffeine on calcium excretion is small, postmenopausal women with risk factors for osteoporosis may want to make sure their dietary caffeine intake is low or moderate and not excessive.

Who Needs Sports Drinks?

Children and adult athletes exercising for more than one hour at high-intensity (tennis, rowing, rugby, soccer, etc.) may benefit endurance-wise and possibly performance-wise from consuming a sports drink rather than water. However, consuming sports drinks provides no benefit over water to endurance, performance, or exercise recovery for those exercising less than an hour. In fact, as with all other sugary drinks containing few to no nutrients, they are only another source of calories. Drinking sports drinks when you are doing no exercise at all is not recommended.

Sports Drink Alternatives

Instead of a sports drink, you can replenish lost fluids and obtain energy and electrolytes during exercise by drinking plain water and eating a sports bar or snack that contains carbohydrates, protein, and electrolytes. Postexercise, low-fat milk has been scientifically shown to be just as effective as a sports drink as a rehydration beverage and it is more nutrient-dense, containing carbohydrates, protein, and electrolytes, in addition to other vitamins.