https://www.verywell.com/alcohol-can-act-as-a-blood-thinner-67362
Updated April 14, 2017
Moderate drinking is a two-edged sword. It may have some
beneficial effects, but at the same time, those very same effects could
be negative in other areas of your health.
Moderate drinking
is also a balancing act, of sorts. If you drink exactly the right
amount to be "moderate" it may be better in some health effects than not
drinking at all, but if you drink just a tad over the guidelines for
moderate, it is much more dangerous than not drinking at all.
It's called the J-curve.
Take
blood coagulation, for example. If you drink a moderate amount of
alcohol—defined in one large study as three to six drinks per week—it
may have the benefit of acting as a blood thinner and be protective
against clotting in clogged arteries, like aspirin does. At the same time, thinning the blood can hasten bleeding from injured arteries, increasing the risk of bleeding strokes.Precautions Against Drinking Alcohol While Taking Blood Thinners
You should abstain from alcohol while taking anticoagulant blood thinners such as Coumadin (warfarin) as the blood-thinning effects of alcohol can interact with those of the prescribed drugs. It will be more difficult for your healthcare providers to determine the correct dosage for the prescribed blood thinner if you also drink alcohol. As you will be placed on blood thinners to prevent a significant health threat, such as a deep venous thrombosis, it's best not to take the risk and have an alcoholic beverage.Learn MoreDon't Substitute Alcohol for Prescription Blood Thinners
Likewise,
if you need anticoagulation to reduce a health risk, it is unwise to
think that drinking alcohol is a substitute for prescribed blood
thinners.
When your doctor prescribes an
anticoagulant such as Coumadin, you will also have your blood tested
regularly to ensure you are getting just the right amount of blood
thinning. Too little and you aren't protected. Too much and you risk
bleeding.
Contrasting Effects of Alcohol on Coagulation
Some studies have shown that moderate drinkers tend to have lower rates of heart disease, but higher rates of bleeding-type strokes than abstainers. However, some researchers believe that the ability of moderate drinking to make blood platelets less "sticky" may mediate the negative effects of moderate drinking."The contrasting effects of alcohol are similar to the effects of blood thinners like aspirin, which clearly prevent heart attacks but at the expense of some additional bleeding strokes," said Kenneth J. Mukamal, corresponding author for a study on effects of moderate drinking on blood coagulation. "Acting as a blood thinner makes sense, because heart attacks are caused by blood clots that form in clogged arteries, and blood thinners can hasten bleeding from injured arteries. Based on these findings, we speculated that moderate drinking would also act as a blood thinner."
Mukamal said previous research had shown that moderate drinkers tend to have "less sticky" platelets than abstainers, meaning that fewer blood elements cluster to form blood clots.
He studied 5,124 men and women enrolled in the Framingham Offspring Study of risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
"We
found that among both men and women, an intake of three to six drinks
per week or more was linked to lower levels of stickiness measured by
aggregability," said Mukamal. "Among the men, we also found that alcohol
intake was linked to lower levels of platelet activation. Together,
these findings identify moderate drinking as a potential blood thinner."No Reason to Start Drinking
"Our findings add to a large body of evidence showing that moderate drinking has effects on blood coagulation, which may have both good and bad effects, but now identify a new avenue by which this effect may occur," said Mukamal.
"By themselves, these findings have
more importance for understanding risk factors for vascular disease than
any clinical relevance, and should not be used by people as any reason
to begin drinking."
Meanwhile, there is increasing skepticism
among researchers that moderate drinking has protective health effects
for heart disease, according to the CDC. The bottom line is, although
moderate drinking may have some health benefits, there is risk involved,
too. If you don't drink, the risks of developing other problems
associated with alcohol may be too great to begin drinking for its
limited benefits.Sources:
Fact Sheets - Moderate Drinking. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm
Mukamal, KJ, et al. " Alcohol Consumption and Platelet Activation and Aggregation Among Women and Men: The Framingham Offspring Study." Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research October 2005
Taking Warfarin (Coumadin) NIH MedlinePlus. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000292.htm
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