The Latest Buzz About Alcohol and Heart Health

It's booze news dudes can use.

While BBC also reports that there are caveats and concerns with how to interpret and apply the findings, a recent medical study of a large test population conducted in Spain suggests that moderate to high consumption of alcohol appears to reduce risk of heart disease by up to a third in men. The protective benefit of active tippling does not appear to accrue to women.

Precisely in the same way that France has been characterized in medical studies of diet and coronary disease, Spain is known for low heart disease incidence as well as high rates of alcohol consumption.

The study came about through the collection and analysis of data from 15,500 men and 26,000 women, providing researchers with a significantly large study population from which to draw their findings. For the men, the consumption of one drink daily is associated with a heart disease risk reduction of about one third. Astonishingly, alcohol consumption at levels of three to 11 (seriously? 11?!) drinks per day is associated with a 50 percent risk reduction.

Effectively putting the cork back into the champagne bottle, several in the global health sciences community are reacting with a "not so fast!" take on the announcement, as indicated by the BBC. Many point to the known health risks caused by excessive alcohol consumption, issuing caution against taking the self-medication through alcohol approach to heart health in response to the Spain study.

That said, the data nonetheless appear to link alcohol use with heart disease risk reduction, and with risk reduction that is more evident in men than in women. Further, and interestingly, the type of alcohol consumed by itself does not appear to offer different levels of risk reduction. Rather, the study finds that greater risk reduction was discerned among those men who consume a full variety of libations.

Photo courtesy of Boca Dorada, via Wikimedia Commons