Research

Hormonal

Moderate alcohol consumption increases HDL cholesterol levels by increasing the transport rate of apolipoproteins A-I and A-II, rather than by altering their fractional catabolic rate.

If you drink alcohol moderately, it may raise your HDL cholesterol levels by speeding up the production and transport of key proteins (apoA-I and apoA-II). This effect is dose-dependent, meaning more alcohol leads to a greater increase, up to a point. However, this does not necessarily mean heavy drinking is beneficial, as other health risks exist.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Alcohol intake increases HDL-C in a dose-dependent fashion, associated with and possibly caused by an increase in the TR of HDL apolipoproteins apoA-I and -II.
Elizabeth R. De Oliveira e Silva et al. · Circulation · 2000

Why this rating

Randomized crossover trial with rigorous metabolic ward controls, though sample size is small (n=14).

Source

Alcohol Consumption Raises HDL Cholesterol Levels by Increasing the Transport Rate of Apolipoproteins A-I and A-II

Elizabeth R. De Oliveira e Silva et al. · Circulation · 2000

DOI 10.1161/01.cir.102.19.2347

crossover · n=14Cited 317×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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