Dangers of a drink a day, hypertension

LET us get the bad news over first. A preliminary study involving 335 subjects with high blood pressure, found that a little bit of alcohol a day might alter heart function.

The researchers showed that the lower left chamber of the heart is impaired when people with high blood pressure drink alcohol on a daily basis. How this damage occurs isn’t known, and the study doesn’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

One-third of US adults have high blood pressure, also called hypertension. Furthermore, it is known that almost 50% of people who have hypertension do not know it. This increases the risks associated with drinking.

But it is not all bad news. New research from Scandinavia, published in JAMA, involving more than 100 000 participants suggests that the risks of premature death associated with obesity has decreased over the past 40 years, while that of normal weight and below normal weight has increased.

According to senior author, Clinical Professor Borge G. Nordestgaard, University of Copenhagen today’s overweight individuals have lower mortality than so-called normal weight individuals when compared to the seventies.

The reason for this change is unknown, but it is suggested that medical care of diseases related to obesity has improved substantially in the last 40 years.

The professor adds that their results should not be interpreted as suggesting that people can eat as much as they like, or that normal weight individuals should eat more to become overweight. I think fat people are happier.

On a serious note, a well-balanced diet with moderate alcohol intake is always a better idea than going all out for the fast food chain near you.