Алкоголь - не всегда яд.

Алкоголь может обладать цитопротекторными свойствами. Читаю на http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2008/12/possible_cytoprotective_effect.php:

Possible Cytoprotective Effect of Alcohol

Category: Medicine • Neuroscience
Posted on: December 31, 2008 9:03 AM, by Joseph j7uy5
Ethanol is a poison. But the difference between poison and medicine sometimes is only a matter of dosage.

For decades, there have been studies that purport to show a small benefit from regular consumption of small amounts of ethanol, with obvious problems caused by excessive alcohol consumption. Physicians, however, are divided about what to do with this information. Do we recommend that people have one alcohol beverage per day, or do we remain silent on the subject?

One reason to be reluctant to recommend moderate drinking, as opposed to abstinence, is that it is very difficult to prove that such recommendations would help anyone. It is one thing to show an association between moderate drinking and improved health; however, that does not mean that teetotalers who start drinking moderately will experience any benefit at all, much less have the population experience more benefit than harm.

There is another reason to be hesitant about making such a recommendation. That is, we do not know how the intervention would work, on a molecular level. Although it is not strictly necessary that we know the mechanism of action, it would help us feel more comfortable that the recommendation makes sense.

So now we have evidence that gives an inkling of what the mechanism might be, with regard to protection against dementia and heart disease:

Alcohol in Moderation, Cardioprotection, and Neuroprotection: Epidemiological Considerations and Mechanistic Studies
Collins M, et al "Alcohol in moderation, cardioprotection, and neuroprotection: epidemiological considerations and mechanistic studies" Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 2008; DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2008.00828.x


In contrast to many years of important research and clinical attention to the pathological effects of alcohol (ethanol) abuse, the past several decades have seen the publication of a number of peer-reviewed studies indicating the beneficial effects of light-moderate, nonbinge consumption of varied alcoholic beverages, as well as experimental demonstrations that moderate alcohol exposure can initiate typically cytoprotective mechanisms. A considerable body of epidemiology associates moderate alcohol consumption with significantly reduced risks of coronary heart disease and, albeit currently a less robust relationship, cerebrovascular (ischemic) stroke. Experimental studies with experimental rodent models and cultures (cardiac myocytes, endothelial cells) indicate that moderate alcohol exposure can promote anti-inflammatory processes involving adenosine receptors, protein kinase C (PKC), nitric oxide synthase, heat shock proteins, and others which could underlie cardioprotection. Also, brain functional comparisons between older moderate alcohol consumers and nondrinkers have received more recent epidemiological study. In over half of nearly 45 reports since the early 1990s, significantly reduced risks of cognitive loss or dementia in moderate, nonbinge consumers of alcohol (wine, beer, liquor) have been observed, whereas increased risk has been seen only in a few studies. Physiological explanations for the apparent CNS benefits of moderate consumption have invoked alcohol's cardiovascular and/or hematological effects, but there is also experimental evidence that moderate alcohol levels can exert direct "neuroprotective" actions—pertinent are several studies in vivo and rat brain organotypic cultures, in which antecedent or preconditioning exposure to moderate alcohol neuroprotects against ischemia, endotoxin, β-amyloid, a toxic protein intimately associated with Alzheimer's, or gp120, the neuroinflammatory HIV-1 envelope protein. The alcohol-dependent neuroprotected state appears linked to activation of signal transduction processes potentially involving reactive oxygen species, several key protein kinases, and increased heat shock proteins. Thus to a certain extent, moderate alcohol exposure appears to trigger analogous mild stress-associated, anti-inflammatory mechanisms in the heart, vasculature, and brain that tend to promote cellular survival pathways. [emphasis added]


Note that the paper does not present original research findings. Rather, the authors describe the results of a literature review and roundtable discussion.

It is important to recognize several caveats in the interpretation of this paper. For one, much of the research they reviewed was done in animals other than humans. Also, there are many different kinds of alcohol beverages. Some but not all contain biologically active components, such as resveratrol, that introduce confounding variables.

Importantly, the authors note that not all studies found benefit. More than half of the epidemiological studies did suggest benefit, but a few indicated potential harm.

All the work regarding the molecular mechanisms is interesting. Perhaps some day will will learn enough to be able to produce a pharmaceutical product that provides just as much benefit as a glass of wine per day, at a cost that is merely six times greater than the cost of the natural product. And perhaps it will get rid of the known risks, instead presenting us with the potential for new, unknown risks.