You'll have to ask your doctor which type of alcohol they prescribe. Never do any drinking without your doctors ok, you know how dangerous that is. You might drink the wrong type, needing resveratrol vs. flavanols, etc.
http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=148901&CultureCode=en
Evidence already exists for the beneficial effects of drinking
moderate amounts of alcohol on the risk of developing a number of heart
conditions; however, the role it plays in the risk of developing heart
failure has been under-researched with conflicting results.
Now, a large study of nearly 15,000 men and women, published online
today (Tuesday) in the European Heart Journal [1], shows that drinking
up to seven drinks a week in early to middle age is associated with a
20% lower risk of men developing heart failure in the future when
compared to people who did not drink at all, and a more modest 16%
reduced risk for women.
Heart failure is a condition in which the heart can no longer pump
blood around the body as well as it used to. The most common reason is
that the heart muscle has been damaged, for instance by a heart attack.
High blood pressure, heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy), heart valve
problems, an irregular heart beat (arrhythmia), viral infections,
drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, consuming recreational drugs and
the side-effects of radiotherapy treatment for cancer can all contribute
to heart failure developing. Heart failure is a major public health
problem with over 23 million people living with it worldwide.
Dr Scott Solomon, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and
Senior Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA, Dr
Alexandra Gonçalves, a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital,
and colleagues analysed data from 14,629 people aged between 45-64 years
who had been recruited to the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
between 1987 and 1989 in four communities in the USA. They followed the
participants for 24-25 years to the end of 2011, and they questioned
them about their alcohol consumption at the start and at each of the
three subsequent visits made at three-yearly intervals.
They defined a drink as one that contains 14g of alcohol, equivalent
to approximately one small (125ml) glass of wine, just over half a pint
or a third of a litre of beer, and less than one shot of liquor such as
whisky or vodka. The study participants were divided into six
categories: abstainers (people who recorded having drunk no alcohol at
every visit by the researchers), former drinkers, people who drank up to
seven drinks a week, or between 7-14 drinks, 14-21 drinks, or 21 or
more drinks a week.
During the follow-up period 1271 men and 1237 women developed heart
failure. The lowest rate of heart failures occurred in those drinking up
to 7 drinks per week and the highest rate was seen among former
drinkers.
After taking account of various factors that could affect the results
such as age, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or heart
attacks, body mass index, cholesterol levels, physical activity,
education and smoking, men who consumed up to seven drinks a week had a
20% reduced risk of developing heart failure compared to abstainers,
while the risk was reduced by 16% in women consuming the same amount.
Former drinkers had the highest risk of developing heart failure – a 19%
and 17% increased risk among men and women respectively compared to
abstainers. Interestingly, among both men and women consuming the most
amount of alcohol (14 or more drinks a week), the risk of heart failure
was not significantly different compared to the risk for abstainers.
Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol over a long period of time is
known to increase the risk of cardiomyopathy. However, the number of
very heavy drinkers in the study was small, which could have limited its
power to detect such an association.
However, when the researchers looked at death from any cause, there
was an increased risk of death of 47% for men and 89% of women who
reported consuming 21 or more drinks a week at the start of the study.
Professor Solomon said: “These findings suggest that drinking alcohol
in moderation does not contribute to an increased risk of heart failure
and may even be protective. No level of alcohol intake was associated
with a higher risk of heart failure. However, heavy alcohol use is
certainly a risk factor for deaths from any cause.
“The people who were classified as former drinkers at the start of
the study had a higher risk of developing heart failure and of death
from any cause when compared with abstainers. This could be related to
the reasons why they had stopped drinking in the first place, for
instance because they had already developed health problems that might
have made them more likely to go on to develop heart failure.”
The protective effect of moderate drinking were more marginal in
women than in men and the authors think this may be due to the fact that
women metabolise alcohol in a different way to men and it can affect
them differently.
Overall, most participants were abstainers (42%) or former drinkers
(19%), with 25% reporting up to seven drinks a week, eight percent
reporting seven to 14 drinks a week, and three percent reporting
drinking 14-21 and 21 or more drinks a week respectively. Most drinkers
also drank more than one type of drink. This meant that the researchers
were unable to assess the role of binge drinking or any differences
between types of drink.
“It is important to bear in mind that our study shows there is an
association between drinking moderate amounts of alcohol and a lower
risk of heart failure but this does not necessarily mean that moderate
alcohol consumption causes the lowered risk, although we did adjust our
results to take account, as far as possible, for a variety of other
lifestyle factors that could affect a person’s risk,” concluded
Professor Solomon.
[1] “Alcohol consumption and risk of heart failure: the
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study”, by Alexandra Gonçalves et
al. European Heart Journal. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehu514
No comments:
Post a Comment