Scientists have told how much alcohol per week can reduce the risk of a heart attack

The negative impact of alcohol abuse has long been known. But there are studies that show its beneficial effect when consumed in moderate amounts.

Thus, the study helped to find a relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The authors used initially healthy elderly people as a basis. This became a distinctive moment of the work. Usually, such studies are conducted on young people.

Scientists used data from approximately 18,000 participants from the United States and Australia, aged over 70 years. They had no cardiovascular disease, dementia or disability that limited their independence. Each participant reported how much alcohol they consumed per week.

The researchers performed a cross-sectional analysis with health data collected over nearly five years. Participants in the groups who drank 3.5 drinks per week were found to reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. In particular, they were less likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or heart failure than those who never drank alcohol. The findings were true for both sexes.

While the results showed that moderate alcohol consumption reduces the risk of heart disease overall, they also showed that it may reduce the risk of premature death. This was all observed in the same group of participants.

Head of the study, MD, cardiologist from the School of Public Health, Monash University Health, Johannes Neumann commented on the results: “moderate alcohol consumption in this group of healthy older people did not affect negatively on cardiovascular diseases and overall mortality. But further research is needed”.