(Wine Spectator) - Study shows that changes triggered by moderate alcohol consumption may help your body fight off future cardiovascular damage

For years now, scientific research has found evidence that moderate drinking has heart-health benefits—now researchers are focusing on why those benefits exist. A recent study conducted at Brazil’s University of São Paulo Biomedical Science Institute has found one possible way alcohol can boost cardiovascular health. Ironically, it appears that the stress of metabolizing alcohol may prepare your heart to fight off bigger health threats. 

The study, published in the June 2018 issue of the European Society of Cardiology's journal Cardiovascular Research, suggests that alcohol’s cardioprotective effects are associated with aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2), an enzyme that helps process harmful chemicals brought on by various forms of cardiovascular stress, and acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct of metabolizing alcohol that ALDH2 helps process. 

Past research has shown that when the heart endures certain types of injury, ALDH2 activity is significantly decreased, leading to a higher chance of cell damage and cell death. But the new study found that previous exposure to acetaldehyde from drinking alcohol could actually prepare the body to produce more ALDH2 when it faces other types of damage later on down the road.