Moderate Drinking and Reduced Risk of Heart Disease :: essays research papers

Alcohol use has been widely studied and documented, as I have found in my research. One article in particular, "Moderate Drinking and Reduced Risk of Heart Disease" by Arthur L. Klatsky, appears to be a good source that I will be able to use in my final research paper. This article will be a good source for two main reasons: first, Klatsky's article adds to my knowledge of my research topic, and second, Klatsky provides good evidence for his claim. Thus, Klatsky's article will help me write my final research paper. I learned from this article that moderate drinkers have the lowest risk of coronary artery disease and death from cardiovascular disease when compared to lifelong abstainers and heavy drinkers. According to Klatsky, alcohol has "protective" effects. It raises the level of HDL (artery-clearing, high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and lowers the level of LDL (artery-clogging, low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol in the blood stream (18). This information about a specific disease and its relation to alcohol is the kind I need to write a good research paper. In addition, Klatsky does a good job of defining "moderate" drinking, a definition that is essential to the article and to my research. He defines moderate consumption as one or two drinks per day (15). A "drink" equals one five-ounce glass of wine, twelve ounces of beer, or one and a half ounces of liquor, all of which contail one half an ounce of alcohol (15). I will use Klatsky’s definitions in describing "moderate" drinking. Klatsky also provides sound evidence to support his claims. He claims that moderate drinkers are at the lowest risk of death from cardiovascular disease and cites a study from the American Cancer Society. This nine-year study of 490,000 people showed a 30-40 percent lower mortality rate from cardiovascular disease among those who consumed one to two drinks per day (20).