A review encompassing decades of alcohol research challenges popular conceptions of moderate drinking as heart healthy. Published in the journal Circulation, and reported in News Medical, the review collates and analyses the results of numerous studies – including large cohort studies, meta-analyses and mechanistic research – to clarify the impact of alcohol consumption on heart health.
Review findings confirmed the harmful effects of heavier alcohol consumption (3 drinks or more daily) across all measures of cardiovascular disease metrics. Their findings also called into question the long-held belief that low-to-moderate consumption (1 to 2 drinks daily) offers cardiovascular benefits, revealing that the positive association touted by previous research may be the result from methodological inconsistencies and sampling or analysis biases.
Considering the level of evidence, the authors write, it remains unknown whether drinking can be part of a healthy lifestyle. They instead recommend that clinicians reinforce lifestyle behaviours with proven health benefits, such as regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight and avoiding tobacco.
[See more: Even moderate drinking significantly increases risk of brain damage, study finds]
Alcohol is one of the most commonly consumed substances in the world, with an estimated 2.3 billion drinkers globally. Despite decades of research into the relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular disease (CVD), observed associations remain complex and inconsistencies have contributed to broad misconceptions about the supposed benefits of low-to-moderate drinking.
Where some older observational studies suggest that this type of moderate drinking may mitigate risk of certain types of CVD, such as coronary heart disease, recent investigations using modern methodologies find weak or no evidence of alcohol’s benefits on CVD outcomes, regardless of dosage.
This contrasts sharply with findings on the negative impacts of heavier alcohol consumption, which remain consistent. Binge drinking and alcohol dependence, which typically develops after years of regular drinking and periodic episodes of binge drinking, have been significantly associated with increased myocardial infarction, hypertension, heart failure, stroke, and cardiac arrhythmia risk. According to the review, the blood alcohol level required to meet the definition of binge drinking typically occurs after four drinks for women and around five drinks for men, if consumed in about two hours.
