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| Adventures of a Middle-Aged Editor |
GH Editor Michael Egan takes a terrifying trip
to Las Vegas. |
| New Hope for Alzheimer’s Sufferers |
| GH Medical Reporters discuss a series of dramatic breakthroughs. |
| GH Survey Winners |
| You could be the lucky recipient of a gift certificate. |
| Are You Older Than Your Boss? |
| Here are eleven coping strategies for dealing with a younger manager. |
| The Amusement Park |
| A new cartoon feature by Michael Egan. |
| A Whiskey a Day Keeps the Doctor Away |
| Moderate alcohol consumption is good for you! |
| Brother Noland Sings |
| Cover story features one of the Islands’ most popular musicians. |
| Heart Check |
| The American Heart Association offers women good advice. |
FEATURE:
A Whiskey a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
It used to be an apple. Now it’s a shot of rye. The latest research says that moderate drinkers are healthier than teetotalers.
According to the European Heart Journal, people who drink moderately have a 30–49 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who abstain.
The catch is, you have to combine it with exercise.
‘The main finding is that there seems to be a beneficial effect of drinking one to two drinks per day and doing at least moderate physical activity,’ notes study-leader Morten Gronbaek of the University of Southern Denmark.
People who had the lowest risk of dying from any cause were physically active, moderate drinkers. Highest risks were physically inactive, heavy drinkers.
Related studies indicate that moderate alcohol consumption—up to 14 drinks a week—actually does you good. Kay-Tee Khaw of Cambridge University tracked about 20,000 people in the UK and also concluded that regular exercise and moderate alcohol consumption are beneficial, adding up to an extra 14 years of life.
The Danish study collected data from nearly 12,000 men and women who were 20 years old between 1981 and 1983. In the following decades 1,200 died from heart disease, while 5,900 passed away from other causes. Khaw’s research included healthy adults aged 45 to 79. They filled in a health questionnaire between 1993 and 1997 and nurses conducted medical exams at a clinic. Participants scored a point each for not smoking, regular physical activity, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day and moderate alcohol intake.
‘We’ve known for a long time that these behaviors are good things to do, but we’ve never seen these additive benefits before,’ commented Susan Jebb, head of Nutrition and Health at Britain’s Medical Research Council. ‘Just doing one of these behaviors helps, but every step you make to improve your health seems to have an added benefit.’
Khaw says that her study should convince people that improving their health does not always require extreme lifestyle changes. We didn’t ask people to do anything exceptional. ‘We measured normal behaviors that were entirely feasible within their normal, everyday lives.’
‘This research is an important piece of work which emphasizes how modifying just a few risk factors can add years to your life,’ notes Dr. Tim Armstrong, a physical-activity expert at the World Health Organization. ‘While we can’t say that any one person would gain 14 years by doing these things, the 14 years is an average across the population of what’s theoretically possible.’
Adds Jebb: ‘Most people know that things like a good diet matter and that smoking is not good for you. We need to work on providing people with much more practical support to help them change.’
In addition to its other benefits, moderate alcohol consumption may
also protect against Leg Artery Disease, according to Dr. Kenneth
J. Mukamal, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Brookline,
MA, Dr Mukamal’s report appears in the American Journal of Epidemiology,
January 2008.
Leg Artery Disease (LAD), is a condition in which the arteries become
narrowed or clogged with fatty deposits, reducing blood flow. Over
time, a build-up of plaque and a hardening of the arteries impacts
circulation in the legs, ankles, and feet and causes lower-extremity
artery disease. Symptoms include burning, aching, pain, and coolness
in the legs, changes in skin color and/or the development of slow
or non-healing sores.
As in the heart study, Dr Mukamal’s research indicates that people who drink from one to 14 servings of beer, wine, or liquor a week have a 44 percent lower risk of being hospitalized for LAD, compared with those who report no alcohol consumption.
‘These results are consistent with the long-standing observation that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of heart attack, which is also caused by blockages in arteries,’ Mukamal said. His team identified a risk for hospitalization for lower extremity artery disease over 7.5 years on average among self-reported moderate drinkers. The study included 5,635 healthy adults. The protective effect was not found among participants reporting less than one, or 14 or more, alcoholic drinks a week.
Moderate alcohol consumption was furthermore associated with declining arterial pressure in the lower legs, another indicator of lower risk for arterial disease. These findings, taken together with previous research, confirm potential cardiovascular benefits from moderate alcohol consumption.
‘However, alcohol also has a wide variety of other effects, especially in older adults who are apt to be taking a variety of medications,’ Mukamal cautions. ‘So older adults should discuss their alcohol use with their doctors at least yearly.’ Association between alcohol intake and cardiovascular risk must be placed in the context of the many potentially detrimental effects of alcohol drinking.
SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 2008.