A new study indicates that moderate alcohol consumption may reduce the risk of death from heart diseases. This might be because of its ability to decrease stress signals in the brain.
In simple language, moderate drinking was defined as no more than one beverage per day for women. But for men, it means two drinks per day.
Moderate drinking may have some health benefits
To check this theory, researchers used data from the Mass General Brigham Biobank healthcare survey.
All the 53,064 participants had an average age of 57.2 years. They were divided into low, moderate, and high consumption groups based on their alcohol usage.
After analysing the data, they found that people with moderate consumption had a 20% less chance of having a major cardiovascular event as compared to those with low usage.
They also had lower stress-related brain activity.
Alcohol may help the heart by reducing stress
Alcohol might help reduce stress-related brain signals.
Studies show that stress-related activity was higher in the brains of those who completely depend on alcohol, and even higher in the brains of heavy drinkers.
According to doctors, moderate amounts of drinking can help with relaxation and stress reduction, which might reduce the occurrence of heart diseases.
Experts caution against using alcohol to reduce stress
Drinking might help with heart health by improving stress, but still, experts advise against this.
Lead author Dr Kenechukwu Mezue, a fellow in nuclear cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said – “Our study does not intend to encourage alcohol use, as alcohol intake in excess is associated with a lot of harm; and, even moderate alcohol intake is associated with increased cancer risk and dependence.”
“Excess alcohol is harmful to the heart, as it leads to heart failure (dilated cardiomyopathy) and atrial fibrillation,” he added.
Hence, people who already consume alcohol should drink less.
Dr Eugene Yang, MS, FACC, a cardiologist and clinical professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine warned that alcohol could increase the risk for potentially dangerous arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, and elevated blood pressure.
“So those with a history of high blood pressure or atrial fibrillation should not be advised to consume alcohol merely for the potential benefit of reducing stress signals from the brain,” he said.
He concluded by saying that it does not prove that moderate drinking actually reduces stress which causes lower cardiac event rates.
Healthier ways to reduce your risk
To reduce the risks people should quit tobacco, exercise regularly, optimize weight and eat a low-sodium and low-saturated-fat diet.
In addition to these measures, there are steps that you can take to reduce your stress levels too. This includes yoga, meditation, therapies or any other sort of physical activity.
