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Posted on Jan 12, 2005, 6 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
Moderate drinking has been associated with a lower risk of heart attacks, but the picture has been less clear in the case of stroke. Now, a new study points out just how moderate your drinking has to be to protect against a brain attack: It should be no more than one drink every other day, and the libation of choice should be red wine.
Now, a new study points out just how moderate your drinking has to be to protect against a brain attack: It should be no more than one drink every other day, and the libation of choice should be red wine.
Consuming more alcohol than that will invite cardiovascular trouble, the researchers said. For men who drink three or more glasses of alcohol a day, the increased risk of stroke reaches almost 45 percent, compared with nondrinkers, according to the report in the Jan. 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
"There has been an assumption that moderate drinking prevents heart attacks and prevents strokes," said study author Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, an associate professor of medicine with Harvard Medical School. "In the last few years, it has become increasingly clear that that might not be the case for stroke."
"As men drink more, the risk for stroke becomes particularly clear," Mukamal added.
Over 14 years, Mukamal's team collected data on 38,156 men who participated in the Harvard School of Public Health's Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Every four years from 1986 to 2000, the men completed questionnaires about their diet and how much they drank.
Men who drank one drink every other day had the lowest risk -- 32 percent lower than that of nondrinkers. Men who drank three or more drinks a day had about a 42 percent higher risk than nondrinkers, Mukamal said.
Full Article : http://www.healthday.com/view.cfm?id=523171
