What causes alcoholic cardiomyopathy condition?

What causes alcoholic cardiomyopathy condition?

Alcohol has toxic effects, but your body can limit the damage and break alcohol down into non-toxic forms if you don’t drink too much too quickly. However, consistent heavy drinking strains those protective processes — especially in your liver — making them less effective. Ultimately, your body can’t keep up with the damage to multiple organ systems, including your heart.

While alcoholic cardiomyopathy comes from long-term alcohol abuse, there’s no universal limit or number that means you’ll develop it. However, researchers have pinpointed certain behaviors that make it more likely you’ll develop this condition.

• Heavy drinking. Available research shows that drinking 80g of alcohol (about 5.7 drinks) or more daily for at least five years can greatly increase your risk of developing this condition.
• Frequent binge drinking. There’s evidence that repeated binge drinking may also be enough to increase your risk of this condition. The definition of binge drinking is consuming, on a single occasion (like a party or an event), four or more drinks for women and five or more drinks for men.
• Genetic mutations. Some people have a genetic mutation that makes their body process alcohol slower than others. For them, intoxication — and damage to their bodies from alcohol’s toxic effects — takes fewer drinks and lasts longer. Over time, that increased damage can lead to problems like alcoholic cardiomyopathy.

Though they aren't causes of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, other lifestyle choices can make it worse. These include using recreational drugs (especially those that affect your heart, such as cocaine) and tobacco (which has major negative effects on your heart, lungs and circulatory system).