Jakarta - Consumption of alcoholic beverages has been known to have adverse effects on the heart. Well, this picture shows how the heart shape of alcohol drinkers that appear swollen when compared with a healthy heart.
Cardiac Alcohol (Left) Heart, Healthy Heart (Right)
This image is the result of research to 141 patients with alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) in the UK. It was found that based on scanning, the hearts of people who are fond of consuming alcohol look bigger because of swelling.
"Our study concluded that the interaction between alcohol consumption and genetic factors makes the risk of heart failure increased," said Dr. Ware of Imperial College London who conducted the study.
Dr. Ware says alcohol accelerates the change in heart shape. Consumption of alcohol makes the heart muscle thicken and the tissue becomes thin and stretched.
As a result, the ability of the heart to pump blood throughout the body is reduced. This is what makes alcohol drinkers have a high risk of heart failure.
"We found that genetic testing for alcohol drinkers is very important because the risk of heart failure can be many times greater if alcohol drinkers have a titin gene that affects the flexibility of heart muscle," he concluded.
