This presentation shows how alcohol is linked to improved cardiovascular health but also causes increase in cancer and other cause deaths of equal magnitude

1. Balancing harms and benefits
of alcohol.
[Updated December 2014]
21/12/20141 http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
Reijo Laatikainen, Authorized Nutritionist, MBA
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
http://www.facebook.com/pronutritionist

2. Meta-analyses: Alcohol is linked to
improved cardiovascular health
• Alcohol improves HDL-cholesterol by
circa 0.1 mmol/L
• Alcohol also improves fibrinogen
levels 0.2 mg/L
• Alcohol increases apolipoprotein A1 by
0.1 g/L
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• Alcohol decreases cardiovascular
deaths by 25 %
• Alcohol decreases all cause deaths
• Best effect is reached at a daily intake
of 1-2 alcohol drinks
21.12.2014Headline2
Brien et al. Meta-analysis of 44
intervention trials. BMJ 2011;
342:d636
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Ronksley et al. Meta-analysis of
84 cohort trials. BMJ 2011;
342:d671

3. Benefit Harm
Danaei, G., Ding, E. L., Mozaffarian, D., Taylor, B., Rehm, J., Murray, C. J., & Ezzati, M. (2009). The preventable causes of death in the united states: Comparative risk
assessment of dietary, lifestyle, and metabolic risk factors. Plos Medicine, 6(4), e1000058. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000058 (Open access article)
Balance between cardiovascular and cancer
plus other mortality

4. 4
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington: Global
Burden of Disease. Visualizations:
http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/country-profiles
CVD
Cancer
Balance between cardiovascular,
cancer and other morbidity

5. Summary
• Alcohol is linked to improved survival from cardiovascular
causes (Ronksley et al. 2011, meta-analysis on 84
cohort studies, BMJ)
• Alcohol concumption is linked to improvement of HDL-
cholesterol by circa 0,1 mmol/l (Brien et al. 2011, meta-
analysis on 44 intervention studies, BMJ)
• However, cardiovascular benefits should be reflected
against potential harms such cancer, injuries, liver,
pancreatic, mental diseases and social burden
• With current consumption figures in USA and in Finland,
the harms seem to outweigh benefits in terms of deaths
(Danaei et al. 2009, IHME register 2013)
21.12.20145

6. Balancing harms and benefits of
alcohol.
21/12/20146
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
Reijo Laatikainen, Authorized Nutritionist, MBA
http://twitter.com/pronutritionist
http://www.facebook.com/pronutritionist