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(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)：在年輕時(shí)酗酒的人罹患心臟病和中風(fēng)的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)更大。

通過(guò)對(duì)2800多例在生活中有飲酒習(xí)慣的成年人的調(diào)查，研究者發(fā)現(xiàn)在青少年時(shí)代就有酗酒惡習(xí)的人比那些在成年后一直適量飲酒的人更容易出現(xiàn)新陳代謝綜合癥。

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

盡管適度飲酒對(duì)心臟是有好處的，例如可以增加高密度脂蛋白含量，過(guò)量飲酒則不然。一項(xiàng)新的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)在早年酗酒可導(dǎo)致今后出現(xiàn)新陳代謝綜合癥。

 位于加利福尼亞柏克萊的研究與評(píng)估太平洋研究所（the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Berkeley, California）的研究人員，這項(xiàng)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(fǎng)時(shí)說(shuō)：“我們?cè)缫呀?jīng)有很多理由來(lái)規(guī)勸年輕人遠(yuǎn)離酗酒的惡習(xí)了，而長(zhǎng)時(shí)間對(duì)健康的損害，例如增加患心血管疾病的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，又給我們提供了新的理由。”她補(bǔ)充道。

羅素博士和她的同事們將這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)發(fā)表在名為《內(nèi)分泌與新陳代謝臨床醫(yī)學(xué)》的雜志上。

這項(xiàng)研究的對(duì)象包括2818名年齡在35到80歲的成年人，他們被問(wèn)及飲酒習(xí)慣以及其他生活方式上的問(wèn)題，例如是否經(jīng)常鍛煉以及是否吸煙。

所有的研究對(duì)象在一生中有一段時(shí)間都有規(guī)律的消耗酒精飲料，但是羅素博士和她的同事們?cè)谒麄儺?dāng)中成功的找出兩條不同的“軌跡”：一類(lèi)人在一生中較早的學(xué)會(huì)飲酒并且在青少年時(shí)期酗酒，在中年時(shí)期逐漸減少飲酒量而另一類(lèi)人，“穩(wěn)定派”，即在數(shù)年內(nèi)一直適量飲酒者。

與穩(wěn)定派相比，第一類(lèi)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(shuō)這只是理解酒精與健康關(guān)系的終生研究方法第一步，還需要有更多的研究來(lái)證實(shí)這個(gè)論點(diǎn)。

然而，過(guò)早飲酒和酗酒將導(dǎo)致將來(lái)患新陳代謝綜合癥是可信的。羅素說(shuō)酗酒將導(dǎo)致身體的氧化負(fù)擔(dān)，長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的這種狀態(tài)可損害人體細(xì)胞并導(dǎo)致心血管疾病及其他疾病。

她同時(shí)指出，與每克僅含四卡羅里熱量的碳水化合物或者蛋白質(zhì)相比，酒精中的熱量高達(dá)每克7卡羅里，這些熱量，加上酒精的對(duì)味覺(jué)的刺激，也許有助于解釋過(guò)早飲酒與體重超標(biāo)的關(guān)系。