The Effect of Alcohol on Triglycerides

You will find that there is lots of debate concerning the impact of alcohol on triglycerides. The consensus is that you should keep your drinking in check but there is little concrete dogma to support the assertion that all alcohol is universally bad. Some of the debates have taken on a rather unhelpful moralistic stance which tends to put off the average person. Individuals who are susceptible to these conditions have to be particularly carefully about drinking. First of all you to remember that many alcoholic drinks such as beer increase your calorie intake. These are then turned into fat which in turn becomes triglyceride. Another problem is the fact that alcohol tends to prevent the burning of fat within the system. A Swiss study has looked at this issue and reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association. According to the report, the fat metabolism is slowed down by up to 30% following an intake of alcohol. Matters are made worse if you eat unhealthy foods such as chips or even peanuts.

The Effect of Alcohol on Triglycerides

• Drinking causes havoc with the function of your body: Alcohol leads to the creation of excess ethanol in the body. That means that the liver will prioritize the removal of this substance. The other metabolic processes are neglected by default. It has been found that the liver can detoxify 1 oz of alcohol per hour if you consider distilled spirits. This is equivalent to 12 oz of beer or 4 oz of wine. That is a great level of strain for the binge drinker. The picture is further muddied by the fact that some drinks contain fruits, additives and syrups. Cocktails can therefore increase the amount of carbohydrates that you are consuming in a drinking session. All that has the effect of increasing your triglyceride levels to dangerous proportions.

• Alcohol can be more dangerous than sugar: If you are a light drinker with 2-4 oz of wine per week, the effect is greater than that which is experienced with the moderate consumption of sugar. Alcohol has the effect of lowering the enzymes that are responsible for breaking down the triglycerides. This will spur the liver to make even more of them. A combination of factors can bring your health status to a critical point where fatalities might occur. Diabetes and insulin intolerance are definitely risk factors. When the liver is overwhelmed in this way, it will fail to undertake its function of detoxifying the blood. The vessels will also be harmed. The bad cholesterol LDL will increase in the stream. Moreover it has been found that alcohol tends to potentiate the toxicity of cholesterol-lowering medication. Statins are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon.

• Drinking is not just about socializing: Alcohol will affect any medication that you are taking in order to control your level of triglycerides. For example Statins are known to be rendered ineffective by the excessive consumption of alcohol. Beer is still harmful even with a 5% alcohol rating. Whisky is 40% alcohol and that is even worse. Beer has the added disadvantage of containing copious amounts of carbohydrates. Drinking this alcoholic brew will have long term effects and you can never become completely immune to them. The heavy drinkers are the worst in terms of experiencing deterioration in the functionality of their body. The body takes a lot of time to eliminate all the traces of alcohol that arise when you go out on a bingeing session. The diet can be completely destroyed by the consumption of alcoholic drinks. A case in point is the half bottle of white wine which produces 39 grams of ethyl alcohol. If you consume it on a daily basis for 42 days then you will get 3 lbs of additional weight. This works out at 27lbs extra per year.

• Red wine is not the angel that it is sometimes portrayed to be: The heart will greatly benefit from the consumption of red wine but you have to take it in moderation. The presence of antioxidants has been credited with this cardio-protective capability. The skins and seeds of grapes are rich in antioxidants. That is a core component of wine. Flavonoids reduce the risk of coronary heart diseases by applying three basic principles. First of all they will reduce the production of low density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol. Secondly they will boost the production of high density lipoprotein HDL cholesterol. Finally they help to reduce the intensity of blood clotting episodes.

• The moderate consumption of alcohol: There is ample evidence to indicate that a moderate level of drinking can increase HDL levels. In most instances you should try to consume some red and white wine. If you drink 5 oz of wine during your meal, then your blood lipid profiles will increase. Do not exceed those levels because your health will be negatively affected. Do not commence drinking just because of the possible benefits of wine. There is no guarantee that you will be able to control your emotional attachment to the drinks. Remember that there are other social problems that have been associated with excessive intake of alcohol.

The status of Hypertriglyceridemia can be accompanied by liver disease, pancreatitis, hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure and depression. All these conditions are made much worse as you continue to drink. The conditions under which the grapes are grown and prepared will matter in terms of the benefits that you can gain from the wine. Organic grapes are preferred. That means that you will not be exposed to toxic agricultural chemicals. The practice in some developed countries is to exclude pesticides, synthetic herbicides, fertilizers and fungicides. In particular you have to watch out for synthetic stabilizers, sulfur and color. Remember that the alcohol level remains fairly static even when you have used these chemicals. Therefore you will be gaining nothing and losing a lot. The Mediterranean diet is praised partly because it contains some wine. However you need to take a very strategic attitude to this things rather than concentrating on a single factor.

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