People who drink heavily in their youth may have a higher risk of developing a collection of risk factors for heart disease and stroke, new research suggests.

In a study that examined the lifetime drinking habits of more than 2,800 adults, researchers found that those who drank heavily in their teens and young adulthood were more likely to have metabolic syndrome than those who drank more moderately throughout adulthood.

Metabolic syndrome refers to a grouping of risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes — including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of “good” HDL cholesterol, high blood sugar and high triglycerides, a type of blood fat. People who have three or more of these problems are considered to have metabolic syndrome.

While moderate drinking can be heart-healthy — helping to boost HDL levels, for example — excessive drinking is not. The new findings suggest that drinking heavily early in life might contribute to metabolic syndrome later on.

“There are already many reasons for encouraging young people to avoid heavy drinking,” Dr. Marcia Russell, one of the researchers on the study, told Reuters Health.

“Long-term health consequences, such as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, may be another,” added Russell, a researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, California.

She and her colleagues report their findings in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The study included 2,818 adults ages 35 to 80 who were questioned about their lifetime drinking habits and other lifestyle factors, like whether they exercised regularly or smoked.

All of the study participants had consumed alcohol regularly at some point in their lives, but Russell and her colleagues were able to identify two major lifetime ”trajectories” of drinking: in one, people started drinking early in life and tended to drink heavily in their teens and young adulthood, then tapered off by middle-age; in the second, ”stable” trajectory, people generally drank moderately over the years.

Compared with the stable group, the early drinkers were almost one-third more likely to have metabolic syndrome. In addition, their risk of being abdominally obese was 48 percent higher, while their odds of having low HDL cholesterol were 62 percent higher.

Russell said that to her knowledge, this is the first study to take the “lifetime approach” to understanding the relationship between alcohol and health, and more research is needed to confirm the findings.

However, it is plausible that early, heavy drinking contributes to metabolic syndrome later on. Russell noted that excessive drinking causes oxidative stress in the body — a state that damages body cells over time and is thought to contribute to cardiovascular disease and other ills.

She also pointed out that alcohol contains 7 calories per gram, versus only 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate or protein. Those calories, coupled with the appetite-stimulating effect of alcohol, may help explain the link between early drinking and excess weight.

一項新研究發現：在年輕時酗酒的人罹患心臟病和中風的風險更大。

通過對2800多例在生活中有飲酒習慣的成年人的調查，研究者發現在青少年時代就有酗酒惡習的人比那些在成年后一直適量飲酒的人更容易出現新陳代謝綜合癥。

所謂的新陳代謝綜合癥，是指容易引發心臟病，中風以及糖尿病等風險的癥狀，例如大肚腩，高血壓，體內高密度脂蛋白含量低以及甘油三酸酯（一種血脂）超標。出現這樣三種或三種以上癥狀的人就被認為患了新陳代謝綜合癥。

盡管適度飲酒對心臟是有好處的，例如可以增加高密度脂蛋白含量，過量飲酒則不然。一項新的研究發現在早年酗酒可導致今后出現新陳代謝綜合癥。

 位于加利福尼亞柏克萊的研究與評估太平洋研究所（the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, California）的研究人員，這項研究的參與者之一，瑪夏.羅素（Marcia Russell）博士在接受路透健康新聞采訪時說：“我們早已經有很多理由來規勸年輕人遠離酗酒的惡習了，而長時間對健康的損害，例如增加患心血管疾病的風險，又給我們提供了新的理由。”她補充道。

羅素博士和她的同事們將這項發現發表在名為《內分泌與新陳代謝臨床醫學》的雜志上。

這項研究的對象包括2818名年齡在35到80歲的成年人，他們被問及飲酒習慣以及其他生活方式上的問題，例如是否經常鍛煉以及是否吸煙。

所有的研究對象在一生中有一段時間都有規律的消耗酒精飲料，但是羅素博士和她的同事們在他們當中成功的找出兩條不同的“軌跡”：一類人在一生中較早的學會飲酒并且在青少年時期酗酒，在中年時期逐漸減少飲酒量而另一類人，“穩定派”，即在數年內一直適量飲酒者。

與穩定派相比，第一類人有三分之一多的患有新陳代謝綜合癥，另外，他們患大肚腩的幾率比前者高百分之四十八，而患高密度脂蛋白含量低比前者高百分之六十二。

羅素透漏說這只是理解酒精與健康關系的終生研究方法第一步，還需要有更多的研究來證實這個論點。

然而，過早飲酒和酗酒將導致將來患新陳代謝綜合癥是可信的。羅素說酗酒將導致身體的氧化負擔，長時間的這種狀態可損害人體細胞并導致心血管疾病及其他疾病。

她同時指出，與每克僅含四卡羅里熱量的碳水化合物或者蛋白質相比，酒精中的熱量高達每克7卡羅里，這些熱量，加上酒精的對味覺的刺激，也許有助于解釋過早飲酒與體重超標的關系。