Moderate alcohol use is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in middle-aged men

A study investigated whether the often-reported protective association of alcohol with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk could arise from confounding.
The study sample comprised 908 men (56-67 years), free of prevalent CVD from the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA). Participants were categorized into 6 groups: never drinkers, former drinkers, and very light (1-4 drinks in past 14 days), light (5-14 drinks), moderate (15-28 drinks), and at-risk >28 drinks) drinkers. The associations of alcohol use with three established CVD risk scores (The Framingham Risk Score (FRS); the atherosclerotic CVD (ASCVD) risk score; and the Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) Severity score) were estimated, adjusting for group differences in demographics, body size, and health-related behaviours.
The estimates were also adjusted for several groups of potentially explanatory factors including socioeconomic status, social support, physical and mental health status, childhood factors, and prior history of alcohol misuse.
The researchers found a lower CVD risk among light and moderate alcohol drinkers, relative to very light drinkers, for all CVD risk scores, independent of demographics, body size, and health-related behaviours. Alcohol-CVD risk associations were robust to further adjustment for several groups of potential explanatory factors.
Study limitations include the all-male sample with limited racial and ethnic diversity, and the inability to adjust for sugar consumption and for patterns of alcohol consumption. The authors comment that although this observational study does not address causation, results show that middle-aged men who consume alcohol in moderation have lower CVD risk and better cardiometabolic health than men who consume little or no alcohol, independent of a variety of health, behavioral, psychosocial, and earlier life factors.
Source: McEvoy LK, Bergstrom J, Tu X, Garduno AC, Cummins KM, Franz CE, Lyons MJ, Reyn-olds CA, Kremen WS, Panizzon MS, Laughlin GA. Moderate Alcohol Use Is Associated with Re-duced Cardiovascular Risk in Middle-Aged Men Independent of Health, Behavior, Psychosocial, and Earlier Life Factors. Nutrients. 2022 May 24;14(11):2183.