BACKGROUND Moderate drinkers have a lower risk of mortality after myocardial infarction (MI). Although binge drinking has been associated with a higher risk of MI in some studies, its relation to prognosis after MI is uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS In a prospective, inception cohort study conducted at 45 US hospitals, 1935 patients hospitalized with a confirmed MI between 1989 and 1994 underw...

Background: This study addresses the problem of clustering of risky habits, i.e. the drinking and substance use habits of smokers and non-smokers. Methods: A sample survey of the general non-hospitalized, Norwegian population (>15 years), excluding abstainers from alcohol was used. We investigated differences in yearly consumption of beer, wine, liquor and total alcohol consumption and intake o...

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which may cause obstructions of the coronary, cerebral and peripheral arteries. It is typically multifactorial, most often dependent on risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, sedentarism, and obesity. It is the single main cause of death in most developed countries due to myocardial infarction, angina, sudden...

Taste expectations can influence taste evaluations. It is not known, however, whether the environmental cues that influence taste expectations--such as suggestible names and brand labels--can have a referred impact on the intake volume of companion foods. Adult diners who ordered a prix-fixe restaurant meal were given a complimentary glass of wine that had been relabeled to induce either favora...

Regular and moderate wine consumption is one of the explanations suggested for the lower incidence of cardiovascular events in France compared with other industrialized countries. We evaluated whether alcohol alone or combined with red wine polyphenols reduced plaque size and/or attenuated thrombotic reactivity at the site of advanced atherosclerotic lesions. Red wine extract, or purified (+)-c...

Brettanomyces (Brett) is an awkward, a yeast subject to much debate in the wine world. Brett changes taste profiles, but not any simple or stable way. In doing this, active agent making of wine, social construction taste/quality and experience drinking/expertise. This article draws on ongoing ethnographic auto-ethnographic research argue that Brett's entanglement relations with humans geographi...

Caroline is a wine buff and bon vivant. She likes to stop at her local wine store, Transcendental Tastings, on the way home from work. She browses the aisles looking for the latest releases from her favorite vineyards. Occasionally she picks up a few bottles. She stores these in a rack in a cool corner of her cellar. She and her partner eat out frequently but when they are at home they usually ...

AIM Anti-inflammatory effects of moderate alcohol consumption have been proposed to explain why moderate alcohol intake lowers coronary heart disease risk. We investigated the relationship between overall alcohol, beer or wine consumption and markers of systemic inflammation in three different geographical areas in Europe. METHODS AND RESULTS Cross-sectional samples, each representative of th...

BACKGROUND Although binge drinking (drinking five or more drinks on an occasion) is an important public health problem, little is known about which beverage types are consumed by binge drinkers. This knowledge could guide prevention efforts because beer, wine, and liquor are taxed, marketed, and distributed differently. METHODS Data from 14,150 adult binge drinkers who responded to the Behavi...

AIM In an effort to promote Hong Kong as a global wine hub, the government eliminated duties on wine and beer in 2008. The changes in alcohol consumption patterns are examined. METHODS Anonymous, cross-sectional telephone surveys on a random sample of Chinese male and female residents aged 18-70 were carried out in 2011 (n = 4800) and 2012 (n = 1001). These data were compared with those of a ...