Peele S
Am J Public Health. 1993 Jun;83(6):805-10. doi: 10.2105/ajph.83.6.805.
The prevailing view today is that alcohol consumption is unambiguously a social and public health problem. This paper presents evidence to balance this view.
Evidence of beneficial effects of alcohol against coronary artery disease is examined, together with cultural reasons for resistance in the United States to the implications of this evidence.
Alcohol use reduces the risk of coronary artery disease--the major cause of heart disease, America's leading killer--even for those at risk for such disease. Moreover, recent research indicates that alcohol continues to reduce risk at the higher levels of drinking measured in general populations. However, with consumption of more than two drinks daily, these gains are increasingly offset by greater mortality from other causes.
Educators, public health commentators, and medical investigators are uneasy about findings of healthful effects of drinking. A cultural preoccupation with alcoholism and the negative effects of drinking works against frank scientific discussions in the United States of the advantages for the cardiovascular system of alcohol consumption. This set has deep roots in American history but is inconsistent with public health goals.
如今普遍的观点是，饮酒无疑是一个社会和公共卫生问题。本文提供证据以平衡这一观点。
研究酒精对冠状动脉疾病有益影响的证据，以及美国抵制该证据所蕴含意义的文化原因。
饮酒可降低冠状动脉疾病的风险——心脏病的主要病因，也是美国的头号杀手——即使对有此类疾病风险的人也是如此。此外，近期研究表明，在一般人群所测量的较高饮酒水平下，酒精仍能持续降低风险。然而，每日饮酒超过两杯时，这些益处会越来越多地被其他原因导致的更高死亡率所抵消。
教育工作者、公共卫生评论员和医学研究人员对饮酒有益健康的研究结果感到不安。美国对酗酒及饮酒负面影响的文化关注不利于就饮酒对心血管系统的益处进行坦率的科学讨论。这种情况在美国历史上根深蒂固，但与公共卫生目标不一致。
