By: Thomas Pickering, MD, DPhil, FRCP, Director of Integrative and Behavioral Cardiology Program
of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York.

Lp(a) is one of the lipoproteins involved in the metabolism of cholesterol, and is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Little is known about the influence of diet on its level in the blood.

A study of 300 Finnish men has related Lp(a) levels to alcohol consumption. The men were divided into four groups: abstainers, and three groups of drinkers: one to four drinks a week, five to 20 drinks a week, and more than 20. Men who drank no alcohol had higher levels of Lp(a) than any of the three groups of drinkers; there were no differences in Lp(a) between the three groups of drinkers.

Doctor's comments

This study shows that drinking minimal amounts of alcohol can lower Lp(a) levels and may help to explain why light alcohol consumption decreases the risk of coronary heart disease. The usual explanation for alcohol's beneficial effects is that it raises HDL cholesterol, but this only occurs in people who drink relatively large amounts (20 drinks a week).

Where it was published