It's a well-known fact that excessive consumption of alcohol may be harmful for health, especially liver and heart. But, what really happens inside the body that leads to cardiovascular problems? The researchers of a recent study claim that heavy drinking may lead to damaging of heart tissues, which further causes various heart problems. The study states that a pattern of too much alcohol in the system increases the level of blood biomarkers, which may adversely impact the heart tissue strength and give rise to heart problems like blockage of arteries or heart failure.
Study author Olena Iakunchykova from the Arctic University of Norway said, "By measuring the level of certain molecules in the blood, we were able to find that heavy drinkers are much more likely to have subclinical heart damage than people who drink less heavily."
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Excessive alcohol consumption may cause cardiovascular problems.
The team of researchers tried to determine the effects of varying levels of alcohol consumption on the heart by studying blood samples from 2,525 adults, aged 35-69. The study was conducted for a period of three years, from 2015 to 2018. The blood samples included all important measures or biomarkers of heart health. The participants self-reported their alcohol consumption habits. The group of participants included those who drank no alcohol, those who consumed alcohol but didn't experience the signs of heavy drinking, and heavy drinkers who met the criteria for harmful drinking.
The team discovered that the participant group, which had the most extreme drinking pattern, had the highest levels of all the biomarkers, compared to non-problem drinkers in the general population. The results were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
"Our results suggest that people who drink heavily are creating higher than normal levels of inflammation in their bodies that have been linked to a wide range of health conditions, including cardiovascular disease," Iakunchykova added.