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 The largest benefit - a 50% reduction in risk compared with
non-drinkers - was seen in people with heart disease who drank an
average of 6 grams of alcohol per day. (A standard "unit" of alcohol
is 8 grams in the UK, whereas the average drink in the United States
contains 14 grams.)
People who averaged 8 grams per day had a 27% lower risk of death
from heart attack, stroke or angina, compared with those who did not
drink. Those who drank 7 grams per day had a 21% lower risk of death
due to any cause.
Drinking higher amounts, up to an average of 15 grams of alcohol
daily, were linked with smaller reductions in risk.
https://bit.ly/3kV2xN9
"Our findings suggest that people with CVD (cardiovascular disease)
may not need to stop drinking in order to prevent additional heart
attacks, strokes or angina, but that they may wish to consider
lowering their weekly alcohol intake," said study coauthor Chengyi
Ding, a research student at University College London. She noted,
however: "Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk
of developing other illnesses."
Ding cautioned that non-drinking individuals should not be
encouraged to take up light drinking because of known adverse
effects on other health outcomes, such as cancers.
The researchers, who assessed more than 48,000 patients with heart
disease, found that higher alcohol consumption, up to 62 grams per
day, was not associated with increased risks of recurrent heart
attack or death compared with no alcohol consumption.
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Overall, the alcohol amounts that were linked with benefit are lower
than those recommended in most current guidelines. For example, the
American Heart Association's guidelines for heart patients recommend
up to 2 U.S. drinks per day for men and 1 per day for women.
A 2019 study found older people with heart failure who consume up to
seven drinks a week may live longer than those who completely avoid
alcohol. (https://reut.rs/3y5VwwH)
However, researchers in the past have found that heavy drinking was
associated with increased levels of blood biomarkers that indicate
damage to the heart.
The new study analyzed data from the UK Biobank, the Health Survey
for England, the Scottish Health Survey and from 12 previous
studies.
The researchers caution that their findings may overestimate the
reduction in risk for moderate drinkers with heart disease due to
the under-representation of heavy drinkers and categorization of
former drinkers who may have quit.
This story refiles to remove extraneous words from first paragraph.
(Reporting by Dania Nadeem in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy Lapid and
Dan Grebler)
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