Alcohol linked to lower risk of heart disease

US study of 400,000 people backs moderate drinking but warns of an increased risk of cancer

ALCOHOL may be helpful for people at risk of heart disease, though it should be avoided by those with a family history of cancer, a study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Washington studied data sets from 400,000 people, some of whom have been monitored since the Fifties, to find out if the amount of alcohol they drank weekly was linked to dying early or prolonging life.

They discovered that having one or two drinks daily increased the risk of premature death by 20 per cent, compared with drinking three times a week or less often.

However, there were heart benefits for people who had just a few glasses a week, lowering their risk of early death from cardiovascular disease by around 25 per cent compared with those who drank nothing, while only raising cancer risk by around 8 per cent.

Dr Sarah Hartz, the lead author, said it may be helpful to advise people at risk of heart disease to drink occasionally but encourage those susceptible to cancer to avoid it altogether.

“Consuming one or two drinks about four days per week seemed to protect against cardiovascular disease, but drinking every day eliminated those benefits,” she said.

“With regard to cancer risk, any drinking at all was detrimental. If you tailor medical recommendations to an individual person, there may be situations in which you would think that occasional drinking potentially could be helpful.

“But overall, I do think people should no longer consider a glass of wine a day to somehow be healthy.”

Last month, a review report by The Lancet found that no amount of alcohol is safe, but the new research suggests the picture may be more nuanced, with moderate drinking beneficial for some people, but harmful for others.

Previous studies have shown that alcohol can lower blood pressure and increase antioxidants. However the research also showed that the heart benefit was cancelled out by the cancer risk when people drank daily, even if it was only one glass.

Current NHS guidelines suggest that people should consume no more than 14 units a week. But the new study suggests that is too many.

“It used to seem like having one or two drinks per day was no big deal, and there even have been some studies suggesting it can improve health, but now we know that even the lightest daily drinkers have an increased mortality risk,” said Dr Hartz. “A 20 per cent increase in risk of death is a much bigger deal in older people who already are at higher risk.

“Relatively few people die in their 20s, so a 20 per cent increase in mortality is small but still significant.

“As people age, their risk of death from any cause also increases, so a 20 per cent risk increase at age 75 translates into many more deaths than it does at age 25.”

The research was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.