Alcohol and heart disease

Vasiliev A.P., Streltsovа N.N.

Tyumen Cardiology Research Center (branch of Tomsk National Research Medical Center of Russian Academy of Sciences) 

A thousand-year human experience of alcohol consumption in different regions independently of each other as well as eating fermenting fruits that contain ethanol among most animals indicate its specific biological value. The fact that endogenous ethanol is constantly present in the human body prove that this chemical compound is not extraneous for human nature, but it plays an active role in metabolism. Frequently found in literature simplified beliefs of alcohol as a pure evil and as a significant ethiopathogenetic risk factor for severe somatic and psychosocial diseases is a wrongful view. The study presents current data on the beneficial effect of alcohol on the cardiovascular system, harmful effects of heavy alcohol consumption; the prevalence of alcoholic heart disease and pathophysiologic mechanisms for its development, clinical manifestations of each stage of development. The survey highlights the importance of diagnosis of cardiomyopathy at early and reversible stages.
Nevertheless, it should be emphasized once more that the term «struggle with alcoholism» cannot be substituted for the term «fighting with alcohol». History shows that such substitution has no future and there is no sense due to biological, traditional, religious and other factors. Moderate alcohol consumption must be the indispensable condition.

Key words: alcohol, heart, cardiovascular diseases, cardiomyopathy, clinical picture, diagnosis.
For citation: Vasiliev A.P., Streltsovа N.N. Alcohol and heart disease // RMJ. 2018. № 1(II). P. 82–85.