In much of the United States today, popular media presents alcohol as a substance that is good to take at least once a day for the heart, saying that the effects of the ingredients improves the likelihood of not acquiring heart disease. Many health companies, such as the “Cleveland Clinic,” are advertising to the public that “a glass of wine a day” is a good source of nutrients (Heart). Along with the effects of popular media, advertising for alcohol is increasing the consumption and misconception of alcohol. Although popular media often displays moderate alcohol consumption as healthy for one’s heart and as a social norm, the effects of alcohol abuse on the heart are brutal, and include its effects on the cells, the blood stream, and the central nervous system. 

Many doctors and physicians state that a moderate level of drinking reduces the incident of heart attacks (Wood). To go along with this aspect, several health websites display to the public numerous benefits of alcohol moderation on the heart. One major effect of moderate alcohol consumption is that people who do drink on a regular basis will be “less prone” to heart failure and heart attacks than people who do not. Studies say that people who drink 3-5 drinks each week were thirty-three percent less likely to have heart failure than those who drink rarely (Parry). This displays to an audience of people that if they drink a moderate level every day, they are more likely to have a healthy heart, a benefit that most people would want.  

The major details that affect the reduction in heart failure and heart disease are based on the aspects of the body that affect the heart. Dr. Nissen from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio says that drinking in moderation will cause a person to have a higher HDL. A higher HDL means that a person will have a healthier cholesterol, an aspect that many people desperately need and want during their lifetimes. Also, Dr. Nissen states that if a person drinks alcohol in a moderation, it can act as an anticoagulant, which results in a person’s blood being less sticky. With a person’s blood becoming less sticky, they are more likely not have a blood clot, which is a major cause of heart problems. Lastly, Dr. Nissen states that if a person drinks alcohol in moderation, they are more likely to have reduced inflammation, which is also another aspect that affects heart attacks (Worth). 

Although many people state that moderate alcohol consumption is healthy for one’s heart, they are most of the time avoiding the main issue at hand: What determines moderation? Moderation of alcohol consumption has been identified in popular media by numbers, but most physicians and doctors refuse to set a moderation level. Several sources have defined a common moderation level, but physicians and doctors feel like they are not sure enough to verify these numbers. Peter Kistler, a senior author from Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, states that “broadly” speaking, alcohol is shown to have a positive effect on reducing heart disease (Wood). Following Kistler’s statement, an assumption is made from the context of his statement that many physicians and doctors can only make a broad guess on what a moderate level of alcohol is for each individual person. When deciding what a moderate level of alcohol consumption is for an individual, male or female, most of the time the information is just a simple assumption. This assumption is ignoring the fact that many people who study alcohol consumption have no idea what the moderate level is on an individual’s body. The only assumption that can be made by doctors is that the moderation level depends on an individual’s unique characteristics by their body. So even when an individual finally knows what their moderation level is, they have reached another level.

Once an individual breaks away from their moderation level, they are now abusing alcohol. Due to the inconsistency of what moderate level alcohol consumption is, many people are abusing alcohol without knowing it because the level has not been set for each individual person. Again, Kistler states that once a person surpasses their moderation level, alcohol consumption becomes “dangerous” because it takes on a  J-shape curve on a graph (Wood). A J-shape curve of a graph illustrates the rapid growth of the y-value, which in this case is the effect of alcohol consumption on the heart. Many doctors such as Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, the director of women’s heart health at Lenox Hill in New York City, states that many professionals and the media have been pushing towards more alcohol consumption because of its positive effects on a person’s heart. Although, she states that the professionals and media ignore the fact that an over usage of alcohol is life threatening (Scutti). 

Since the moderation of alcohol is unable to be defined, alcohol consumption is causing people to have an increase chance of heart disease without them knowing they are abusing alcohol. In the United States, cardiovascular disease is the biggest threat to  health, and recent data analyzing patients who abused alcohol to one’s who did not, states there was a massive increase in patients having heart problems for those who abused alcohol (Whitman 16). Alcohol’s moderation level’s inability to be defined is causing the public to experience heart problems blindly, which is causing more and more deaths every day. 

One concern that effects the heart is atrial fibrillation, which is when an individual has an irregular heartbeat. Recent studies comparing an overall population with a diverse amount of people stated that the incident rate in acquiring atrial fibrillation per 1000 people every year, the percent was 7.4; this is a number represented also by the people who did not abuse alcohol. However, the people who did abuse alcohol had a massive increase in atrial fibrillation from a normal individual. A normal person’s percentage of acquiring atrial fibrillation was 7.4, while a person who abused alcohol had a higher percent of acquiring atrial fibrillation because 8.5% of people in the study had the disease.  This data explains that due to alcohol abuse, an individual is more likely to acquire a detrimental irregular heart beat that could cause the heart to attain heart disease or another horrifying heart related effect (Whitman 16). 

Another drastic heart effect from alcohol abuse is myocardial infarctions or heart attacks. Heart attacks are a major cause for heart failure, and there are one and half million causes of it each year. A recent study by several doctors and physicians concluded that people who did not suffer from alcohol abuse had a much better chance in not having a heart attack than someone who did abuse alcohol. The incident rate of suffering from myocardial infarction was 3.1% in a population of people who did not abuse alcohol. Although, the victims who suffered from alcohol abuse had an even higher difference in percentage than atrial fibrillation, with a staggering 4.6% amount of them suffering from heart attacks (Whitman 16). The major conclusion to be made about these numbers is that people are at much greater risk of heart attacks because of abuse of alcohol and since many people do not know they are abusing it, they are also clueless to what is happening to their hearts. 

One last effect of alcohol abuse on the heart is that it causes hemorrhagic strokes. It has been proven that alcohol consumption in the excess causes the body to have higher blood pressures, which would in return cause the body to be more prone to have a hemorrhagic stroke. Hemorrhagic strokes have a high death rate when they occur. A person’s chance of dying from a hemorrhagic stroke is 50% (Klatsky 16-17). Major causes of these strokes are directly related to the effects alcohol abuse has on each individual piece in a person’s body. Although this deadly effect is only from alcohol abuse, not from alcohol moderation, the issue at hand is still the definition of what moderation is.

Although much has been proven on the effects of alcohol abuse on the heart, many people do not understand what exactly is causing the heart to be damaged. One major cause of the heart being damaged is the effect of alcohol ingestion on cardiac contractility.  Alcohol consumption causes a major loss in cardiac contractility, which causes the heart to become very inefficient. The ethanol in the alcohol causes a change in the lipid metabolism and fatty acid compositions of the sarcolemma, which is a structure around the muscles in the human body. The alcohol acts as a toxin on the lipid metabolism and fatty acid compositions and causes a disruption in the mitochondrial function of the cells in the human body. When the mitochondrial function of cells is disrupted, many cycles that are used to influence the contractility of the heart are disturbed and halted, causing the heart to have deadening effects (Laonigro 455). Alcohol abuse is not always directly correlated to the heart specifically, it can affect several smaller biological cycles in the body which are most of the time connected to the heart. When the heart is damaged in any circumstance, individuals are more likely to die from heart failure or heart disease. 

There have been several genetic discoveries lately on what the effects of certain substances are on individual’s bodies. A major effect from alcohol is the disruption that ethanol has on genes. Recent medical research states that alcohol consumption leads to a change in genotype called ACE DD, which causes a much higher risk in a person developing heart disease or heart problems. The significance is that the ethanol in the alcohol causes people to have a drastic change in the myocyte function of their body, which overall causes a person’s body to have cell dysfunctions. Once a person develops cell dysfunctions, it can cause the heart to obtain unwanted characteristics such as heart disease and heart failure (Laonigro 454). The cells of the human body are very important when it comes to the human heart; cells are the foundation of any system in the body, so when they are disturbed at any rate, it can be deadly. Again, this shows what alcohol abuse is able to do to the human heart, although the world today conveys alcohol consumption in moderation as a wonderful effect on the heart when the moderation level of alcohol is not even established. 

Another cause for heart problems by alcohol abuse is the development of cardiomyopathy. Cardiomyopathy is damage to the heart muscle that can cause further heart problems such as a heart attack, atrial fibrillation, and heart disease. Alcohol abuse worsens this because it increases a person’s hyperextension by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is used for vascular constriction and the growth of contraction in the heart, which when overused, can cause serious heart problems. Alcohol abuse also increases the chance of an individual acquiring cardiomyopathy because it decreases the sensibility of baroreceptors, which are used to answer stress caused by high blood pressure, which would also signal a person’s central nervous system. Alcohol abuse reduces a person’s ability to be responsive to his or her own blood pressure, which increases a person’s chance in getting cardiomyopathy. To go along with this, it also causes a person’s heart to be damaged by the increase in the sympathetic nervous system (Walker 1253-1254). These two characteristics are just two examples of how the general population of Americans does not understand the ground basis of what is going on when they abuse alcohol. Alcohol can cause damage to the signaling processes in the body and have major consequences to the heart. 

The correlation between alcohol abuse and the deadly effects of it on the heart are available to the public all over the Internet, but other sources are getting out to the public in a steadier, more urgent fashion; these sources are informing the public of different visions of alcohol consumption. The major problem of advertisements is their effect on the youth. Studies say that the youth of the United States is more likely to see 45% more beer ads than people of legal drinking age, which is a rising problem for society. Since alcohol is being shown to underage drinkers to be socially acceptable in society, it is causing the youth to want to consume alcohol to be part of an acceptable social norm. Studies also show that the youth is exclusively targeted for alcohol advertising so the sale of alcohol will rise because advertisers see the youth as the easiest people to convince when it comes to alcohol consumption (Grube). The problem with influencing the youth is that they are inexperienced and have no idea what the true nature of alcohol is or the way in which it affects the heart. The youth also has no idea what the moderation level is, since the moderation level is a rough guestimate that is inaccurate and not medically proven. All the youth sees from alcohol consumption is a way to become more acceptable, but unfortunately it is damaging one of the most important parts of their bodies, the heart.

Popular media in today’s world conveys alcohol consumption in moderation as a perfect way to improve several key factors in an individual’s life. Several sources claim that in moderation, alcohol consumption is something that can improve heart health and be useful in impacting an individual’s ability to be accepted in society. Although sources, even medical sources, are advertising alcohol as a positive effect on the heart and on a person’s social experience, the truth about alcohol is being hidden from most of the public. Alcohol is a deadly drug that is killing millions every year, and most of the causes are indirect. Alcohol is killing people directly from drunkenness and alcohol poisoning but is also impacting the way the heart functions. Once the human heart is poorly functioning, the body is prone to follow the same route. Alcoholism is shown as positive on the heart when consumed in moderation, but doctors refuse to release the actual level of moderation to the public-- why? The reason doctors are refusing to release this information to the public is because they simply do not know what the moderation level of alcohol is, which is a cause for concern. With the world’s most intelligent doctors and medical researchers not able to release a convincing moderation level of alcohol to the public, why is it ethical to release information about the positive effects of alcohol on the heart? The moderation of alcohol is currently a rough estimate for the public, not each individual person. Several people today are most likely experiencing alcohol abuse without even knowing, and that again is a reality that the media has ingrained in the general population. In today’s world, it is not fair to allow the public to be shown information about alcohol in moderation when many people are already dying from alcohol abuse. The medical professionals and advertisers needs to resist conveying the positive effects of alcohol consumption in moderation on the heart until the world knows what the moderation level is exactly.
