An alcoholic beverage a day is claimed to keep coronary heart disease at bay, but only for 15% of the population, confirms a new study at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Share on Pinterest Moderate drinking is associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease, but is this true for everyone?

Alcoholic consumption (ethanol intake) at “moderate” level, up to 1 drink a day for women (corresponding to 14 g or 0.6 ounces of ethanol) and 2 drinks a day for men is associated with a decreased risk of coronary heart disease.

However, your favorite nightly tipple may only have cardio-protective benefits for people of a particular genotype of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) polymorphism. For the other 85% of the population, this is not the case.

A previous study of men found an association between alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease, but the evidence had not been confirmed in further studies, until now.

The new study, published in Alcohol, specifically re-examines the potential association between alcohol consumption and coronary heart disease with the presence of the CETP TaqIB (rs708272) polymorphism.

There were 618 patients included in the study, including both men and women, below the age of 75. They were from three regional hospitals admitted for acute coronary syndrome and diagnosed with myocardial infarction, with a typical history, ECG, and enzyme changes or unstable angina.

Of the 618 participants, 453 were men and 165 women. First-time acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina was present in 209 men and 86 women, while the remaining 323 had an exacerbation of previously diagnosed coronary heart disease.

Study contributors and 2,921 healthy control subjects answered self-administered questionnaires on environmental and lifestyle-related exposure variables, and anthropometric measures and venous blood samples were collected.

All participants were asked about their intake of different types of alcoholic beverage (low-alcohol beer, medium-strong beer, strong beer, wine, dessert wine and spirits) and the serving size and frequency of consumption.

Participants were tested in order to identify if the CETP TaqIB genotype was present – the genotype found to play a role in the health benefits of alcohol consumption in a previous study. The researchers also tested whether the participants carried the B1 or B2 alleles of this genotype.