New publications
How can alcohol help the heart?
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
It turns out that acetaldehyde, which is obtained from ethanol, is able to activate an enzyme that removes toxic biochemical substances from the heart.
Doctors have long insisted that alcohol in small doses can be beneficial to human health. But most research on this issue only provides information on the relationship between moderate consumption of quality alcoholic beverages and overall well-being or longevity. Most often, experts try to prove for what age alcohol is more or less beneficial, who is more susceptible to addiction to it, and what amount of ethyl alcohol is included in the concept of "moderate dose". And what can scientists say about the mechanism of that very beneficial effect of alcohol?
Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have taken up this issue. Dr. Julio Ferreira and his team conducted a series of experiments: they took out rodent hearts and maintained their viability by pumping a special fluid containing oxygen and essential nutrients through the organs. The experiment involved a kind of prototype of a myocardial ischemia attack: the supply of nutrient fluid to the heart was cut off for half an hour. Then the pumping was resumed, but the heartbeat had already slowed down, entering a so-called state of stress. After such a “shake-up,” every second heart soon died.
During ischemia, the amount of 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal increases in the myocardium. This is a toxic aldehyde capable of damaging structures inside cells. In a healthy organism, the aldehyde content is controlled by a special enzyme, ALDH2. However, it was discovered that during an attack of ischemia, the enzyme loses its activity, and the concentration of aldehyde rapidly increases.
It turned out that ethanol could restore the enzyme's ability to control the toxic substance content. Before arranging artificial ischemia, the scientists included a small amount of ethyl alcohol in the nutrient fluid for 10 minutes. As a result, the death of cardiac cells decreased by 20%.
By the way, the volume of alcohol introduced corresponded to a couple of glasses of wine for the average man – in terms of male rodents.
If the enzyme function was completely artificially suppressed, then cell death continued, even despite the inclusion of alcohol in the liquid. In other words, the effect of ethyl alcohol on the heart depends on the activity of the ALDH2 enzyme: with its normal function, small doses of alcohol allow the heart to survive physiological stress. But in the case where the enzyme function was initially impaired, even small doses of ethyl alcohol not only will not help, but will even worsen the situation.
The information was published in the journal Cardiovascular Research and is also presented on the website Medicalxpress (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-moderate-dose-alcohol-heart.html).
[