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 Conventional wisdom, based on plenty of previous research, is that
the occasional glass of wine or beer can be good for the heart,
reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke as well as death from
cardiovascular causes, lead study author Dr. Peter Kistler of the
Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and the Alfred Hospital in
Melbourne, Australia, told Reuters Health.
For the current study, however, researchers examined data collected
on almost 900,000 people and found an 8 percent risk increase for
irregular heartbeat with each alcoholic drink consumed per day.
“Alcohol is not universally ‘good’ for the heart,” Kistler said. “It
is beneficial for the ‘plumbing’ or blood supply to the heart
muscle, but for the ‘electrical’ part of the heart or the heartbeat
it is not.”
The study focused on what’s known as atrial fibrillation, a
quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood
clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.
Untreated, the condition doubles the risk of heart-related deaths
and is linked to a five-fold increased risk for stroke, according to
the American Heart Association.
While nobody should binge drink during the holidays, people with a
history of atrial fibrillation should be especially vigilant about
avoiding or limiting alcohol, Kistler said.
Both men and women were equally at risk for holiday heart,
researchers report in the Journal of the American College of
Cardiology.
The study doesn’t prove that an extra cocktail after dinner directly
causes atrial fibrillation, the authors note.
Still, they offer some theories about how spending too much time at
the bar during holiday cocktail parties might be bad for the
heartbeat.
Drinking can damage heart cells directly and lead to small amounts
of fibrous tissue within the heart causing an irregular heartbeat.
The review found that people with atrial fibrillation who continue
to drink are more likely to have ongoing irregular heartbeats even
after a common surgery to repair the heart’s electrical system and
fix the source of the flutter.
Heart muscle cells contract in a coordinated way by movement of
electrical signals between cells. Over time, drinking may actually
change these electrical signals, triggering irregular heartbeat.
Alcohol may also trigger an irregular heartbeat by stimulating
what’s known as the autonomic nervous system, which controls bodily
functions such as heart rate, digestion and breathing.
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More research still needs to be done to determine the specific
mechanisms behind the relationship between alcohol and irregular
heartbeat, the authors note. Causes may include alcohol’s
contribution to obesity, sleep and breathing problems, and high
blood pressure, the authors speculate.
One challenge with the study and most research on the heart effects
of alcohol is that researchers rely on people to accurately recall
and report on how much they drink, a flawed process that often leads
participants to underestimate their alcohol consumption, noted Tim
Stockwell, director of the Center for Addictions Research and a
professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver,
Canada.
Often, studies that count former drinkers as ‘abstainers’ can
obscure the effects of alcohol on the heart, too, making occasional
drinkers look healthier than abstainers, Stockwell, who wasn’t
involved in the study, said by email.
Even so, there are some common sense steps anyone can take to lower
the odds of heart rhythm problems after that next holiday party.
“Certainly drinking with food, interspersing with non-alcoholic
drinks and generally keeping the dose of alcohol low are all
recommended,” Stockwell said. “This all reduces the heart’s exposure
to cardiotoxins.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2gwD9cA Journal of the American College of
Cardiology, online December 5, 2016.
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