BOSTON — Countless people subscribe to the belief that a nightly glass of wine does wonders for the heart and cardiovascular system. New research from Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard, however, is calling for closing time on theories stating moderate alcohol use is good for the heart. Scientists explain any prior observed scientific connections between the occasional beer or glass of wine and robust cardiovascular health likely resulted from other lifestyle factors usually seen among light to moderate drinkers.
In fact, this latest and quite large research project ultimately concludes drinking any amount of alcohol is linked to an increased risk of heart disease.
A total of 371,463 adults were examined for this project, with the median age being 57 years old. Average alcohol consumption on a weekly basis was 9.2 drinks. It’s worth mentioning that all of this data was originally collected for the UK Biobank, a major and ambitious on-going biomedical database and research resource collecting in-depth genetic and health information.
Moderate drinkers typically lead healthier lives
Similar to prior relevant studies, the research team initially noticed that moderate drinkers tend to show lower rates of heart disease. People who avoided drinking altogether were more likely to develop heart disease, but heavy drinkers were the most at-risk group by a wide margin.
Importantly, though, moderate drinkers were also living much healthier lives in general than any of the other participants, even those abstaining from alcohol altogether. These subjects, typically, reported exercising more, eating more vegetables, and less smoking. When study authors included such lifestyle factors into their calculations, any cardiovascular benefits tied specifically to moderate alcohol consumption essentially disappeared.
The research team applied the absolute latest version of a technique called Mendelian randomization. This process entails the use of genetic variants to identify whether or not an observed link between a specific exposure and an outcome is consistent with a causal effect. In simpler terms, does light alcohol consumption actually cause stronger heart disease protection?
“Newer and more advanced techniques in ‘non-linear Mendelian randomization’ now permit the use of human genetic data to evaluate the direction and magnitude of disease risk associated with different levels of an exposure,” says senior study author Dr. Krishna G. Aragam, a cardiologist at MGH and an associate scientist at the Broad Institute, in a statement. “We therefore leveraged these new techniques and expansive genetic and phenotypic data from biobank populations to better understand the association between habitual alcohol intake and cardiovascular disease.”
When genetic samples were taken and analyzed from patients, the results indeed indicated subjects with genetic variants predicting higher alcohol consumption were more likely to drink more alcohol, as well as more likely to have or develop hypertension and coronary artery disease.
Alcohol does more harm for heart health than good
The study reports both men and women can potentially put themselves at greater risk of heart issues depending on their alcohol habits. Small risk increases were noted while shifting from zero to seven drinks per week. Meanwhile, much higher risk increases were seen while progressing from seven to 14 drinks per week, and even higher risk profiles among both genders were recorded when consuming 21 or more drinks on a weekly basis.
Very notably, these findings even suggest levels of alcohol consumption currently deemed “low risk” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (less than two drinks daily for men and one drink daily for women) can raise one’s risk of heart problems.
All in all, the study finds we should all probably do our best to avoid alcohol altogether. If you drink a few alcoholic beverages per day or week, try and cut back, but the ideal solution is to put down the bottle altogether. Research also suggests that the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart health is exponential not linear. In other words, people who drink a lot stand to benefit more from a cardiovascular perspective by lowering their intake than moderate drinkers.
“The findings affirm that alcohol intake should not be recommended to improve cardiovascular health; rather, that reducing alcohol intake will likely reduce cardiovascular risk in all individuals, albeit to different extents based on one’s current level of consumption,” Dr. Aragam concludes.
The study is published in JAMA Network Open.
So sad that science has just become a money making scam.
100% Agree.
I don’t have a Drinking Problem.
I Drink, I get Drunk, I fall down.
NO PROBLEM.
From the article: “In fact, this latest and quite large research project ultimately concludes drinking any amount of alcohol is linked to an increased risk of heart disease.”
The study cited in that sentence addresses pregnancy in women, not heart risks: https://studyfinds.org/alcohol-consumption-pregnancy/
Just a bunch of crap to sell something???
I no longer pay attention to any article on research unless the information includes who specifically funded the research. Even then, I want to see a link to the actual study so I can read exactly what it says if interested. I’ve seen far too much research deliberately distorted by no-nothing writers and even the researchers (usually for justifying more grant money).
Vague words like ‘a small risk increase’ are worthless. What is the increase? Chances of winning the lottery doubles when a second ticket is purchased – a doubling of your ‘risk’ of winning – but it is not significant.
Finally, this study looked at only cardio-vascular health issues. The very next study could show light drinking reduces the risks of stroke and cancer. As for most things in life, consumption brings both benefits and risks. To say ‘slams the door’ on health benefits and making an absolute statement that complete abstinence is best, based on this study, shows a very limited understanding of both science and the human body. If this is the best this site can do, close it down and go home.
I’ll drink to that.
100%
The link is directly there at the end of the article. Alcohol is a clear cut carcinogen. They are required to put that as a warning directly on the containers!
Yeah, but it’s Harvard and MIT…Who can trust them?
Is coffee bad or good? Are eggs bad or good? Is a huge plate of spaghetti good or bad? Are avocados good or bad?
The answer is: All of the Above
The study doesn’t mention the general health of the average participant. That’s concerning.For all we know, most were living unhealthy lives aside from drinking. Also, what was the average age?
Did you know that the most healthy thing for you is smoking big black cigars? They drastically cut the rate of cardiovasular problems, cancer, senility, vision defects, ED, infertility, arthritus, gas, and improper political thoughts. It is the AMA that has spread the lie of the dangers of smoking. They are simply safeguarding their income.
Science or political correctness. After all it’s Harvard and MIT.
I knew a vineyard owner..2 good glasses,of dark red.. a day…for almost 30 years..asked him how old he was ,while watching him work his vines..he looked about early 50s…he said ..78..enough said.
I doubt anyone thinks heavy drinking is good but a drink per night is going to do little to harm you. What, you get maybe one year extra if you drop the bottle? Let me tell you, my parents last year on earth was hell. That one year is not always worth it.
Alcohol has no medical benefits by law it should be classifed as a scheduled 1 narcotic.
Marijuana who has multiple medical benifets is still by the federal goverment a class 1 scheduled narcotic ( yet it helps with medical conditions let that sink in
except marijuana leads to stroke and heart failure… the biggest business in america is the manufacture and distribution of fear.
https://studyfinds.org/marijuana-stroke-heart-failure-study/
You left out carcinogenic:
https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/proposition-65/chemicals/finalmjsmokehid.pdf
“Alcohol” is very generic, as there are many forms of alcoholic beverages and they are not created equally. A glass of dry red wine a few times per week might not be as supposedly dangerous as a shot of tequila or a Pina Colada, given the individual components of each, but this study does not differentiate. The results may indeed ultimately be the same, but it would be much more informative to see that breakdown rather than an “all alcohol should be avoided” generalization.
I thought all science was “settled”. Just ask Fauci or the global warmists.
Later the same day, experts from other eminent institutions published a study showing that alcohol is far better for the heart than anyone every imagined.
Just read the study. It literally says “we found that light and moderate alcohol consumption associated with lower cardiovascular disease risk” controlling confounders attenuated (reduced) but did not eliminate the benefit.
Let me think about this over a six pack, I’ll get back with ya.
When Pharma says shut up and take your Soma, you can’t have any alcohol, you know that your medical health is not what they are interested in.
This is the study that will be quoted, until the next study says, “No, our new study says a glass of wine is actually good for you after all”. The same thing happened with eggs. They were good for you. Then they were bad for you. Then they were good for you, again. Now, they’re bad for you, again. Studies like this do tend to leave themselves a bit of wiggle room by using words like, “likely”.
It’s not that science is a scam to make money, as some suggest. It’s just that science isn’t, for lack of a better phrase, an exact science. Most of the time, science is a best guess situation based on the most current information available. That’s why I really dislike when people treat science as all knowing and all seeing. Scientists are people, granted they are very smart people but people nonetheless. What they believe today may drastically change tomorrow, as it has so many times in the past
“but the ideal solution is to put down the bottle altogether. ”
vs
“Importantly, though, moderate drinkers were also living much healthier lives in general than any of the other participants, even those abstaining from alcohol altogether.”
So which is it? According to this study, those who don’t put down the bottle altogether find it much easier to maintain a healthier lifestyle.
Alcohol, tobacco, processed foods, drugs… are all excellent means for helping people in retirement make sure they won’t outlive their savings.
Plus the liver and the heart are evil and must be punished!
Bottoms up true believers.
Exactly how would these so called ‘experts’ explain how the people of a certain greek island, who drink wine or alcohol every single day, are among the longest living people on earth?
Maybe by suggesting that living in close knit communities, physical activity including walking a lot (in mountainous terraine no less) and eating whole foods grown locally and prepared at home every single day of their lives is far far more than enough to offset the much smaller effect of daily ingestion of locally grown and processed alcohol? Another one of those long lived “blue zone” communities is Loma Linda Seventh Day Adventists who famously drink no alcohol at all. So maybe, just maybe, consider the possibility that the keys to longevity are the things common to both those communities – which certainly don’t include alcohol. As the “so called experts” explain in the article “Importantly, though, moderate drinkers were also living much healthier lives in general than any of the other participants, even those abstaining from alcohol altogether. These subjects, typically, reported exercising more, eating more vegetables, and less smoking. When study authors included such lifestyle factors into their calculations, any cardiovascular benefits tied specifically to moderate alcohol consumption essentially disappeared.”
I’ll wait for a study that I confirms my chosen behavior. Studies are like a bus, there will always be another come along.
This is kind of a paradox. I have ischemic heart disease and alcohol has literally stopped heart attacks in their tracks when coffee has caused them for me. There are a few reasons for this. 1. If you are suffering from tachycardia associated with physical stress or stimuli it can mitigate this. 2. Grapeseed extract blocks estrogen which causes strokes 3. If you are experiencing mental stress that can cause a heart or brain response it can reduce this which can prevent a heart attack. That said the assessment that moderate drinkers are the healthiest is being overlooked. There are two reasons for this. One is that these individuals are able to drink in moderation meaning they likely have more self control for other things associated with moderation, which makes everyone healthier. So the stats are off due to personality differences. There are other factors that contribute to longevity. The second is because someone who is a moderate drinker has a lower tolerance, and therefore they are able to feel the same effects while consuming much less alcohol.
I have read hundreds of scientific studies over the past 3 years concerning alcohol and alcoholism. One of the first ones I found was in a 2018 paper in The Lancet. There were 515 investigators that looked at 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016. They determined that the only level of alcohol consumption for optimal health is zero drinks a day! They also found that there are absolutely no benefits from drinking. We doctors do not have any problems telling people to NOT SMOKE; so we should be able to now advise them to NOT DRINK ALCOHOL. This is the only safe level. I have not drank any alcohol for 41 continuous years. Alcohol caused numerous medical problems in my life, disabled me, has damaged my mental/emotional health and I wish that I had never touched a drop! The makers, sellers, and drinkers of booze think everyone should drink but they are JUST PLAIN WRONG!! Do not listen to them; abstain from alcohol.
I would say your comment is the only one worth reading here. Every comment trying to contradict it or provide justification for alcohol consumption is just an exercise in denial. If you have lived past middle age and continue to need a drink, ever, you know what’s going on if you are honest with yourself. If you don’t need a drink, why would you consume one if you know the facts?