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Health
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2006-10-23 22:39:25-04
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A drink a day halves men's heart attack risk
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Washington, Oct 24: A new study led by US researchers has shown that a drink or two per day can reduce the odds of a heart attack in otherwise healthy people. Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston studied more than 8, 867 healthy men for about 16 years and assessed their daily alcohol intake (beer, white wine, red wine, or spirits). Between 1986 and 2002, 106 men had heart attacks. Those who drank between 15 and 29 grams (about two drinks) per day had the lowest risk for heart attack (8 deaths), and those who did not drink at all had the highest risk (28 deaths). The authors concluded that men who maintained good eating habits, didn't smoke, exercised, watched their weight and consumed alcohol in moderation had a 40 to 60 percent lower risk of heart attack than either the non-drinkers or the very light drinkers. "This latest research speaks to how robust the link is between moderate drinking and heart attack risk. The fact that we found the association [between alcohol consumption and heart attack] to be just as strong in this tightly controlled group of men as we've found it to be in more general studies suggests that physicians should not avoid alcohol consumption as a topic for discussion when talking with patients about ways to reduce their risk of myocardial infarction," explains lead author Kenneth Mukamal, MD, MPH, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Based on these numbers, we estimate that approximately 25 percent of the heart attacks that occurred among these healthy individuals might be attributed to abstention [or extremely light drinking]," explains Mukamal. The authors wrote that as there are other safer ways to lower heart attack risk, such as exercising, staying trim, and eating properly, moderate alcohol consumption is not typically advised by doctors.
"There's no question that all of these other behaviours are important, and can help prevent other chronic diseases besides heart disease. But there's no reason to consider the recommendations as mutually exclusive," he added.
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