Alcohol To Fight Heart Disease?

Tuesday August 29, 2006 in: Diet and Exercise Tag(s):

If the findings of a study conducted by a group of researchers from the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen are proven beyond any reasonable doubt, expect liquor stores and pubs to register record profits.

Published in the May 27 issue of the British Medical Journal, the study suggests that daily drinking cuts heart disease risk for men. For middle-aged ones, that is. Some 22,400 women and more than 25,000 men between 50 and 65 years old participated in the study, which had the researchers monitoring the participants for a period of nearly six years.

The study's results showed a 41 percent reduction in the heart disease risk of men who drank every day, while the risk for those who abstained from drinking was found to be only 7 percent lower. Participants were heart disease-free at the onset of the study.

But before drunks all over the world do cartwheels over this piece of news, the researchers have thankfully reiterated the well-known fact that heavy drinking-that would be more than a drink or two per day, thank you-carries other health risks. It is also wise for them to say that doctors should temper their advice to patients.

How much is one drink, by the way? According to the American Heart Association, a drink is 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits, or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits.

Consuming anything beyond those on a daily basis increases your risk of high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, breast cancer and of course, heart disease.

If it were up to me, I'd prefer to totally stay away from alcohol. But in an editorial accompanying the study's publication in the prestigious journal, Annie Britton, a senior lecturer at University College London said that "Unlike tobacco, the healthiest amount of alcohol for some people may not be zero''.

Oh well. Who am I to question science, right?

Bartender, a shot of tequila please.

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