Daily alcohol consumption cuts heart risk for men

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new study says that men who drink every day have a reduced risk of heart disease, but the same is not true for women.
It is already known that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of heart disease than those who do not drink. But most of the research has been done on men. Researchers in Denmark have now looked at over 50,000 men and women aged 50 to 65 years to see how drinking habits affected health among both men and women.

They learned that women consumed an average of 5.5 drinks a week and men consumed an average of 11.3. During the study, 749 women and 1,283 men developed heart disease. Women who drank alcohol on at least one day a week were less likely to develop heart disease than those who drank less often. However, the risk was similar for daily or one day a week drinking, suggesting that frequency is not an issue for women.

For men, in contrast, the risk of heart disease was lower for the most frequent drinkers. Men who drank every day had a 41 per cent reduced heart disease risk, compared to seven per cent for those who drank once a week. As ever, this research should not encourage people to drink because the health risks of drinking too much are well known.

Source
British Medical Journal 27th May 2006 Volume 332 pages 1244-1247