Science has finally confirmed something St. Paul told his friend Timothy in The Epistles a couple of thousand years ago: “Use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities”. Those other ‘infirmities’ now, officially, include heart disease…
Older folks who’ve had heart attacks can benefit
from a drink or two a day…
Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis wanted to see what effects Alcohol consumption would have on recovering heart attack patients. The results of their study surprised them.
What they did…
Researchers analyzed data from a past survey called the Cardiovascular Health Study, conducted from 1989 to 1993. It included 5,888 adults on Medicare. Of these, 393 patients developed heart failure during the nine-year follow-up period. Heart failure occurs when the heart gradually loses the ability to pump sufficient blood to the body. It can be triggered by a heart attack or other chronic conditions such as diabetes or kidney disease.
With an average age of 79, slightly more than half of the heart failure patients were women, and 86 percent were white. The patients were divided into four categories for the analysis: people who never drank, people who drank in the past and stopped, people who had seven or fewer drinks per week, and people who had eight or more drinks per week. The researchers defined one serving of alcohol as a 12-ounce beer, a 6-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor.
What they found…
The study showed a survival benefit for moderate drinkers compared with those who abstained from alcohol. On average, survival for moderate drinkers was just over a year longer than abstainers, a difference that was statistically significant. However, the findings do not suggest that nondrinkers should start imbibing after a heart failure diagnosis, the researchers emphasized.
The study suggests that heart attack sufferers who drank moderately before their attacks can continue to do so after with little or no ill effect. That means one serving of Alcohol a day for women and two a day for men.
“My patients who are newly diagnosed with heart failure often ask me if they should stop having that glass of wine every night,” said study report Senior Author, Cardiologist David L. Brown. “And until now, I didn’t have a good answer for them. We have long known that the toxic effects of excessive drinking can contribute to heart failure. In contrast, we have data showing that healthy people who drink moderately seem to have some protection from heart failure over the long term, compared with people who don’t drink at all.”
My take…
Unless your doctor tells you differently, just keep on drinking what you’re drinking. In moderation. That guideline of one drink a day for women and two for men seems like a reasonable one. Among the reasons Paul didn’t give Timothy supporting moderate consumption are two I’ve always thought important: It can relax you (good for the heart) and help you forget the cares of the day (ditto). And it can provide a welcome complement to a meal, helping you get more enjoyment from your food. Actually… Doctors have long recommended a glass of wine or a pre-dinner tipple for older folks who need help maintaining their appetites…
~ Maggie J.