A new study published in BMC Medicine has found that the risk of heart attack, stroke and death among those with heart disease is reduced if they consume moderate amounts of alcohol. The study analyzed more than 48,000 heart disease patients and it discovered that drinking up to 62 grams of alcohol each day was not associated with an increased risk of recurrent heart attack or death.
For people with heart disease, drinking an average of 6 grams of alcohol per day appears to reduce the risk of death by half. For men and women, the risk of death from a heart attack, stroke, or angina decreased by 27% if they have 8 grams of alcohol per day. Among current drinkers of alcohol, those who drank 7 grams on a daily basis had a 21% lower risk of death. The alcohol content of “a standard unit” of alcohol varies between different countries, in the United Kingdom, a unit is 8 grams, whereas a standard drink in the United States contains 14 grams.
According to coauthor Chengyi Ding, those who have heart disease can drink a little without increasing their chance of another heart attack or stroke. Nonetheless, alcohol consumption might need to be reduced and, despite this positive news, consuming alcohol can still increase the chances of developing other illnesses.
This is not the first research on this subject. In 2019, a study discovered that older people who had heart failure and consumed up to 7 drinks a week lived longer on average than those who did not consume alcohol at all. The researchers acknowledge the limitations of their research as the findings might not reflect properly heavy drinkers or persons who had quit drinking.
