A Healthy Toast - Health For Life - MSNBC.com: "The major benefit of alcohol seems to come from its ability to boost levels of HDL, the good cholesterol that helps keep arteries clear of plaque. Ethanol does that by signaling the liver to make more of a substance called apo A1, the major protein in HDL. The effects can be striking. 'Depending on the individual, you can get increases of 10 to 30 percent in HDL in a week,' says Harvard epidemiologist Eric Rimm. 'Nothing else in the diet can have such a dramatic impact on HDL in such a short time.' That's not all. Alcohol in measured doses makes blood less sticky, and less likely to form the unwanted clots that cause heart attacks and strokes. It also appears to have mild anti-inflammatory effects. And it enhances insulin sensitivity—which may explain why moderate alcohol consumption correlates with a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes."
Makes sense to me given the control cycle. I can also see why abuse would cause the very problems you are trying to avoid.
"One martini is all right," James Thurber wrote. "Two is too many. Three is not enough."
ReplyDeleteThurber clearly knew his way around a drink. But just what are those drinks doing around the body to make one feel so very high with one drink and so very low with the next? Your HDL and cholesterol reasoning sounds as good as anything but doesn't seem as sinful as I like.
Now that's news I can use!
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