alcohol

Enjoying a drink now and then doesn’t do us much harm. In fact, if alcohol is consumed modestly, it may actually provide some health benefits. We can all agree there is definitely a point when drinking too much and too often becomes a problem, and according to a new study, older American women are drinking ...click here to read more

April is Alcohol Awareness Month, with the first Thursday of the month being National Alcohol Screening Day. These were established to help reduce the stigma often associated with alcoholism by encouraging communities to reach out to people with information about alcohol, alcoholism, and recovery. Here at Bel Marra, we have taken the time to spread ...click here to read more

While we are often bombarded with information on how alcohol can damage your health, pack on the pounds, and worsen mental illnesses like depression, some studies show that having a drink may provide some surprising health benefits, as long as it’s done in moderation. Keep reading to learn how different alcohols may help to improve ...click here to read more

In honor of National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week—January 23–29—we have collected some of our most informative articles addressing how long alcohol stays in your system, as well as its impact on your heart, kidneys, and triglyceride levels. How long does alcohol stay in your system? If you’ve ever wondered how long alcohol stays in ...click here to read more

Heart attack, atrial fibrillation, and congestive heart failure risk increases with alcohol abuse. The risk of these heart conditions has been found to climb up with excessive alcohol drinking as much as with other known risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and obesity. Heart disease still remains to be the number one ...click here to read more

Beer drinking can offer benefits for cholesterol and heart health. You may already be familiar with the health benefits of wine, but as it turns out, beer is associated with positive health effects, too. A study found that moderate beer consumption could help slow the decline of HDL cholesterol. What does moderate consumption mean? The ...click here to read more

Binge drinking is more likely during holidays and may harm your brain. Alcohol seems to go hand-in-hand with the festivities, and as many of us gather to celebrate, it seems that drinking (often excessive) is an inevitable part of any holiday party. Research has shown that after two glasses of wine the brain becomes activated ...click here to read more

Liver and brain link plays an important role in regulating alcohol consumption. One of the senior investigators Paul Elliott explained, “Alcohol drinking in excess is a major public health problem worldwide and we need to find new ways of reducing the harmful effects of alcohol in the population. Even small shifts downward in the average ...click here to read more

Cirrhosis risk increases with daily alcohol drinking, according to research. Every year, nearly 170,000 people die of cirrhosis of the liver in Europe, and alcohol drinking is a very strong risk factor for this condition. The researchers have uncovered that alcohol drinking patterns influence the risk of cirrhosis, with daily drinking having a greater impact ...click here to read more

Triglyceride levels can be affected by alcohol intake in many different ways. For starters, alcohol consumption means more calories to metabolize. No digestion is required, so it goes directly to the liver. Instead of metabolizing fatty acids, the liver then starts processing the alcohol. As a result, the triglyceride levels in the liver – and ...click here to read more

Atrial fibrillation risk and heart chamber damage are linked to moderate alcohol consumption, according to research findings. Senior author of the study Gregory Marcus explained, “There’s growing evidence that moderate alcohol intake may be a risk factor for atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disturbance in the world, but the mechanism by which alcohol ...click here to read more

Alcoholic liver disease and liver injury risk is greater in women than in men. The findings revealed that the risk of alcoholic liver disease was still higher in women than men even if the women drank less than the men. Researcher Vatsalya Vatsalya said, “The adverse effects of heavy alcohol drinking seem to manifest with ...click here to read more

Cognitive decline in old age has been linked to smoking and heavy drinking. Smoking is becoming an increasingly common risk factor for dementia, so the researchers examined the association between smoking history and cognitive decline from midlife to older age. Data was collected from 5,099 men and 2,137 women with an average age of 56. ...click here to read more

Alcoholics may be missing a key enzyme that helps control impulses to drink. Researchers found that turning off production of the enzyme PRDM2 in the frontal lobes of rats led the animals to drink more alcohol, even when they didn’t like it. Study leader Markus Heilig explained, “PRDM2 controls the expression of several genes that ...click here to read more