A glass or two of booze is good for your heart, according to long-standing medical advice that drinkers are often fond of citing.
But, according to a new study, this cherished invitation to say “cheers” is well off the mark.
Reducing even light consumption of alcohol will not only improve your chances against coronary heart disease, but also help you lose weight and ease high blood pressure, it said.
Writing in the British Medical Journal, researchers carried out an overview of 50 published studies into the drinking habits and health of more than 260,000 people of European descent.
They looked especially at those with a key variant of a gene called ADH1B.
Previous research has found that a single change in the DNA code in this gene makes people less sensitive to drink, and thus less at risk from alcoholism.
The new study discovered that individuals with the variant drank 17% fewer units of alcohol per week and were 78% less likely to binge drink than those without it.
They also had a 10% lower risk of coronary heart disease and enjoyed lower systolic blood pressure and body mass index (BMI).
“This suggests that reduction of alcohol consumption, even for light to moderate drinkers, is beneficial for cardiovascular health,” the study contended.
Juan Casas, a professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the probe, said a decades-long belief in health benefits from light-to-moderate drinking may have been flawed.
Source: thejournal.ie, 15/07/14
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