Gallstones are a major contributor to illness in America and the rest of the Western world. In the United States alone, more than 500,000 people endure surgery to remove these bits of calcium and cholesterol from gallbladders and bile ducts. Equally significant, numerous studies since 1979 have demonstrated that people with gallbladder disease were six to seven times more likely than other people to develop ischemic heart disease.
Numerous studies have also shown that consumers of alcohol had dramatically less gallbladder disease, perhaps only one-third, than abstainers. The same factors that increase the risk of heart disease also increase the risk of gallbladder disease. Indeed, both conditions occur most frequently in people with high levels of bad LDL cholesterol, triglycerides (fats) and insulin along with low levels of good HDL cholesterol.
Research has proven that moderate alcohol consumption increases HDL levels and buffers high peak insulin levels which also seem to affect gallstone disease.