Moderate Alcohol Consumption May Lessen Risk Of Cardiovascular Related Diseases, Study Says

By Carrie Winters - 27 Mar '17 19:08PM

A new study finds that a moderate consumption of alcohol can be good for the health. This is in comparison with those who don drink and those who are heavy drinkers.

According to a report, the researchers looked into the drinking habits of several individuals. The findings show that those who drank alcohol in moderation had a lower risk of eight heart conditions. These may be chest pain, heart attacks, stroke and sudden heart-related deaths.

The results from the study indicated that there is a 12 percent to 56 percent increase in risk for these heart conditions on non-drinkers of alcohol. The non-drinkers also have a 33 percent higher risk of unstable angina.

The non-drinkers of alcohol also had 56 percent higher risk of sudden death from a heart attack compared to moderate alcohol drinkers. Heavy drinkers of alcohol, on the other hand, had a higher risk of heart-related diseases.

The researchers for this study used electronic information on patients who were at least 30 years old. The records were from Jan. 1, 1997 to March 25, 2010. These patients were enrolled in CALIBER program and none of them had cardiovascular disease at baseline.

These patients were asked to report their alcohol consumption while the data were gathered by the medical practitioners. The alcohol consumption within five years was the data being used in the study. These data gathered had the same results as to moderate alcohol drinkers have less risk for cardiovascular disease.

However, the researchers noted that the findings have its limitations. This has been indicated by the researchers with the data gathered from self-reported information from the patients. There has got to be more research done in order to get more findings regarding the theory.

Meanwhile, moderate alcohol consumption may be good for the health since it increases the HDL cholesterol in the body. This is also known as the "good" cholesterol. It also can decrease the clump of platelets and reduce blood clot.