Moderate drinking could cut heart attack risk

26-05-2006 17:31

Moderate intake of alcohol could reduce the risk of heart attacks in men, says a study, but researchers warn that this in no way justifies potentially harmful drinking behaviour.

Researchers in Denmark studied over 28,448 women and 25,052 men and aged 50-65 years and monitored them for an average of 5.7 years, collecting details on their alcohol intake and drinking frequency, reported Newswire.

Men who drink alcohol every day have a lower risk of heart disease than those who drink less frequently, the study found.

They also found that women who drank alcohol at least once a week had a lower risk of coronary heart disease than women whose alcohol intake was lower.

However, risks were similar for those who drank once a week (36 percent reduced risk), or seven days a week (35 percent reduced risk), suggesting that the amount of alcohol consumed is more important than the drinking frequency among women.

In contrast, for men, risks were lowest for the most frequent drinkers. For example, men who drank once a week had 7 percent reduced risk, while men who drank daily had 41 percent reduced risk. The study suggests that it did not matter how much men drink, as long as they drink every day.

It is widely known that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who abstain, but most research in this field has been done on men and little is known about drinking patterns and risk of heart disease among women.