Alcohol can cut risk of men's heart problem

Good morning friends. Most men usually drink alcohol. Even young ones do that. Some parents advice their children especially boys that they should not get use to drink alcohol as it is bad in the body. But there is a study that alcohol can cut risk of men’s heart problem.

Alcohol lovers have now one more excuse to say 'cheers' every day, as a new research said it can cut the risk of heart problems by almost a third in men.

The Spanish research involving more than 15,500 men and 26,000 women found that those who have about four to ten units a day can apparently even halve their risk – regardless of whether they opt for beer, wine or spirits.

Women can get some benefits too, said the study published in Heart journal, although more testing is needed.

The research involved men and women aged between 29 and 69, who were asked to document their lifetime drinking habits and followed for 10 years.

Crucially the research team claim to have eliminated the "sick abstainers" risk by differentiating between those who had never drunk and those whom ill-health had forced to quit.

This has been used in the past to explain fewer heart-related deaths among drinkers on the basis that those who are unhealthy to start with are less likely to drink, the BBC reported.
The exact mechanisms are as yet unclear, but it is known that alcohol helps to raise high-density lipoproteins, sometimes known as good cholesterol, which helps stop so-called bad cholesterol from building up in the arteries.

The study was conducted in Spain, a country with relatively high rates of alcohol consumption and low rates of coronary heart disease.

However, British experts warn the claims must not be seen as a green light to over-indulge.
Cathy Ross, of the British Heart Foundation, said:

"While alcohol could offer limited protection to one organ, abuse of it can damage the heart and other organs, such as the liver, pancreas and brain."

Robert Sutton, professor of surgery at Liverpool University, said the study had "several flaws" and must not be taken to mean high levels of alcohol can improve health.

They warned that heavy drinking can increase the risk of other diseases, as alcohol responsible for 1.8 million deaths globally per year. – Indian Express

Coffee, alcohol linked to heartbeat issues (2 of 2)

The patients in the study had an average age of 67 and were already receiving treatment for high blood pressure but had no previous signs of atrial fibrillation. They were followed up for an average of 4.8 years, during which time heart scans revealed atrial fibrillation in 5.7 per cent of patients who reported drinking more than ten units a week, compared to 3.9 per cent of patients who drank less or no alcohol at all.

Inger Ariansen, who led the study at Oslo University Hospital, suggested that ten standard drinks could be regarded as a threshold for increased risk of atrial fibrillation, although she pointed out that different countries defined the amount of alcohol contained in a typical drink differently.

The second study, by researchers at the University of Modena, found that drinking more than the equivalent of four espresso shots a day could increase the risk of arrhythmias in people without known heart disease, even if they otherwise had a healthy diet.

Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said that the recommended limits for drinking alcohol a week were formulated to avoid the risk of liver disease and other drink-related health problems. “But there is no doubt that some patients are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol on the heart and it may be that a subset of people who metabolize alcohol differently are at increased risk of atrial fibrillation.”

He added that he was not aware of any direct evidence that drinking caffeine increased the risk of atrial fibrillation, “but it wouldn’t be surprising if you found that”. – The Times of India