Here is what American Heart Association says on the topic
Q: Are there cardiovascular risks associated with drinking alcohol?
Drinking too much alcohol can raise the levels of some fats in the blood (triglycerides) (tri-GLIS'er-idz). It can also lead to high blood pressure, heart failure and an increased calorie intake. (Consuming too many calories can lead to obesity and a higher risk of developing diabetes.) Excessive drinking and binge drinking can lead to stroke. Other serious problems include fetal alcohol syndrome, cardiomyopathy (kar"de-o-mi-OP'ah-the), cardiac arrhythmia (ah-RITH'me-ah) and sudden cardiac death.
....Drinking more alcohol increases such dangers as alcoholism, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, breast cancer, suicide and accidents. Also, it's not possible to predict in which people alcoholism will become a problem.
Given these and other risks, the American Heart Association cautions people NOT to start drinking ... if they do not already drink alcohol. Consult your doctor on the benefits and risks of consuming alcohol in moderation.
Q: What about red wine and heart disease?
Over the past several decades, many studies have been published in science journals about how drinking alcohol may be associated with reduced mortality due to heart disease in some populations. Some researchers have suggested that the benefit may be due to wine, especially red wine. Others are examining the potential benefits of components in red wine such as flavonoids (FLAV'oh-noidz) and other antioxidants (an"tih-OK'sih-dants) in reducing heart disease risk. Some of these components may be found in other foods such as grapes or red grape juice. The linkage reported in many of these studies may be due to other lifestyle factors rather than alcohol. Such factors may include increased physical activity, and a diet high in fruits and vegetables and lower in saturated fats No direct comparison trials have been done to determine the specific effect of wine or other alcohol on the risk of developing heart disease or stroke.
Q: Are there potential benefits of drinking wine or other alcoholic beverages?
Research is being done to find out what the apparent benefits of drinking wine or alcohol in some populations may be due to, including the role of antioxidants, an increase in HDL ("good") cholesterol or anti-clotting properties. Clinical trials of other antioxidants such as vitamin E have not shown any cardio-protective effect.
Also, even if they were protective, antioxidants can be obtained from many fruits and vegetables, including red grape juice.
The best-known effect of alcohol is a small increase in HDL cholesterol. However, regular physical activity is another effective way to raise HDL cholesterol, and niacin can be prescribed to raise it to a greater degree. Alcohol or some substances such as resveratrol (res-VAIR'ah-trol) found in alcoholic beverages may prevent platelets in the blood from sticking together. That may reduce clot formation and reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. (Aspirin may help reduce blood clotting in a similar way.)
How alcohol or wine affects cardiovascular risk merits further research, but right now the American Heart Association does not recommend drinking wine or any other form of alcohol to gain these potential benefits. The AHA does recommend that to reduce your risk you should talk to your doctor about lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling your weight, getting enough exercise and following a healthy diet. There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic beverage can replace these conventional measures.
Q: What about alcohol and pregnancy?
[Important] Pregnant women shouldn't drink alcohol in any form. It can harm the baby seriously, including causing birth defects.
Q: What about alcohol and aspirin?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns that people who take aspirin regularly should not drink alcohol.
Heart disease patients should stop drinking and keep taking aspirin if their doctor prescribed it for their heart condition. Patients should not stop taking aspirin without first talking to their doctor.
Research findings on moderate drinking
One or two drinks of alcohol impair mental and physical abilities. Mental processes such as restraint, awareness, concentration and judgment are affected, reaction time is slowed and there is a resulting inability to perform complicated tasks.
{“The Effects of Alcohol and Other Drugs,” Motorcycle Safety Foundation, Irvine CA, 1991}
Relatively small amounts of alcohol impair processes in your brain that would normally detect errors in performance and help you instigate adjustments. {Nutrition Hints, "Alcohol and error performance," Hint #1020, Betty Kamen, PhD, and Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, MD Source: Science 2002, scienceexpress.org}
Cynthia Green, Director of the Memory Enhancement Program at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in NY, and author of “The Memory Workout: Eight Easy Steps to Maximum Memory Fitness,” advises individuals to ‘go easy on the alcohol.’
Even moderate drinking appears to interfere with working memory. If working memory is damaged, information can't be stored in the long-term memory. Ms. Green also suggests getting a good night’s sleep, as sleep deprivation can impair memory.
{Washington Post Health, Dec. 14, 1999}
The hippocampus is one brain region in which even moderate ethanol intake produces an array of debilitating effects - a disruption of the acquisition and performance of spatial reference memory tasks and a reduction of the overall level of glutamate released at synapses within the hippocampus - affecting learning and memory. {"Ethanol, Memory, and Hippocampal Function: A Review of Recent Findings," the Department of Psychology and Center for Neuroscience, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio & Skipper Bowles Center for Alcoholic Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2000}
Unlike other intoxicating substances, alcohol doesn't attach to specific brain receptors, but instead has far-reaching effects on many areas of the brain. One study suggests that moderate amounts of ethanol (the type of alcohol in beer, wine, and spirits) suppress activity in the hippocampus, a key area of the brain for learning and memory. However, alcohol increased activity in areas of the brain involved in emotion, processing sensory information, drug-seeking behavior, and areas activated by stress.
{Reuters Health Information Service, Dec. 1996}
The brain is the organ most sensitive to alcohol, and it receives less oxygen when alcohol is present, which adds to the feeling of fatigue. Alcohol has a depressant effect on the central nervous system and when this depressant is removed (cease drinking alcohol) there is a ‘rebound’ of sensitivity to stimuli.
{Duke University Web site, August 2000}
The presence of alcohol hastens the breakdown of antioxidants in the blood, speeding their elimination from the body (CNN.com - July 2000), and alcohol changes the metabolism and absorption of vitamins/nutrients needed by the brain to function properly.
Any protective effect [of alcoholic beverage consumption] may be related to the antioxidants in some alcoholic beverages such as wine. This is what we do know about alcohol and dementia generally:
* Alcohol has a serious negative effect on the central nervous system.
* Alcohol can affect the brain directly as a neurotoxin.
* Alcohol can affect the brain indirectly. Both vitamin deficiency and liver damage can lead to brain shrinkage and brain damage.
There are over 150 medications commonly prescribed to older people that interact with alcohol. Depending on the drug, alcohol may make a particular drug work less well or not at all, can heighten its effect, or can be toxic.
{“Alcohol and Seniors,” agingincanada.ca, Feb. 2004}
Even low to moderate amounts of alcohol may cause the brain to shrink, according to a Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. Not only did low to moderate drinking fail to protect against strokes (as previously shown), but alcohol was associated with less tissue in two areas of the brain. The more alcohol consumed, the greater the loss of brain tissue, increasing the risk of cognitive and motor losses.
{Stroke, Dec. 4, 2003, in Environmental Nutrition, Jan.}
Although moderate drinking may reduce the risk of certain types of stroke, and scarring in the core of elderly's people's brains,
it may also promote shrinkage of the brain, a condition found in Alzheimer's patients and also linked to dementia. Every drink is associated with greater brain shrinkage. These findings were based on MRI scans of the brains of over 3,000 people over the age of 65, and appeared in the recent issue of 'Stroke,' a journal of the American Heart Association.
{"Light drinking: new risks, rewards," AP, The Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 28, 2001} Author's comments: The use of even smaller amounts of alcohol (two to three times a week) doubles the risk of hemorrhagic strokes says JAMA.)
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Sources:
http://www.americanheart.org/present...dentifier=4422
http://www.jrussellshealth.com/alcbfm.html