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ALCOHOL AND THE HEART

Observers have long suspected that drinking alcohol was somehow good for the heart. Just how good and why, they weren't sure until late in the 20th century. To date, over sixty studies throughout the world have investigated in detail if drinking alcoholic beverages did indeed lead to more healthy hearts, and how.

Alcohol and the Elderly

A study conducted in New Haven, CT, between 1982-1996 found that moderate alcohol consumption was associated with decreased risk of heart failure among the elderly.

Beer or Wine?

The discovery--or re-discovery-- that alcohol consumption might be good for you emerged in the early 1990s in a phenomenon known as the "French paradox:" the observation that, although the French diet is higher in fat than ours, rates of coronary disease are lower than in the United States.

Research initially suggested that the red wine that adds so much pleasure to a French meal also helps protect French hearts. Chemical compounds called flavinoids, found in large amounts in the seeds and skins of red grapes, appeared to have positive effects on cholesterol levels (both raising the levels of "good" and decreasing the levels of "bad" cholesterol) and reducing blood platelet aggregation.

Red wine staked out its territory as the "healthy" alcoholic beverage.

Dutch researchers in 2000 offered evidence to counter the widely held belief that red wine was better for the heart than beer. The Dutch study, led by Dr. Henk Hendriks of the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute, studied 11 healthy men who drank four glasses of either beer, red wine, spirits or water with dinner for three months. They switched beverages every three weeks. Despite the small number of subjects in the study, the results were striking.

The men showed a 30 percent increase in vitamin B6 in their blood plasma after three weeks on beer. Drinkers of red wine and Dutch gin received only one-half the increase in the vitamin. B6 prevents the body from building up high levels of homocysteine, a chemical linked to an increased risk of heart disease. Homocysteine levels did not increase in the beer drinkers, but rose for those who drank wine or spirits

A somewhat similar study in Denmark also addressed the "red wine v. beer is better for your heart" debate. The Danish Brewers Association reported that beer works as well as wine in preventing heart disease. "It cannot be proved that there is any health advantage to drinking red wine, for example, rather than beer," according to the study by the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine at the University of Muenster. "Studies indicate that light to moderate alcohol consumption from beer, wine or spirits is associated with a reduction in all-cause mortality, owing primarily to a decreased risk of coronary heart disease."

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