Cause of heart muscle Disease

ALCOHOL

Alcohol is the cause of heart muscle disease. It is mostly used in Western countries. In Western countries, excessive alcohol consumption is a major cause of cardiomyopathy.

Alcohol can damage the heart directly by exerting a toxic effect on heart muscle cells.

Severe heart damage may also result from nutritional deficiencies that occur when alcohol is the person's main source of caloric intake.

In some drinkers, alcohol primarily attacks the liver, causing cirrhosis, and in others, mainly the heart, but severe damage usually does not occur in both organs at the same time.

Alcoholic cardiomyopathy can develop after five to ten years of excessive alcohol use. Examples of excessive amounts are two thirds of a pint of whiskey or gin, one quart of wine, or two quarts of beer daily, although individual susceptibility to and tolerance of alcohol varies greatly.

Most patients with this type of
cardiomyopathy are males, possibly are more heavy drinkers among men than women.