Does alcohol protect against heart disease?

A new study from Denmark hints that men who drink moderate amounts of alcohol every day have a lower risk of heart disease than those who drink less frequently. But the same is not true for women.

Previous research has shown on more than one occasion that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who don't drink alcohol at all. Nearly all the studies have been on men however and we don't really know how alcohol affects heart disease risk in women.

The Danish study looked at more than 50,000 men and women aged between fifty and sixty five as part of a national health study.

The results showed that women who drank alcohol regularly had a lower risk of heart disease than women who drank alcohol on less than one day a week. But the heart disease risk reductions were similar whether the women drank on one day a week (36% reduced risk) or seven days a week (35% reduced risk). This hints that - for women - it is the amount of alcohol consumed that matters rather than the regular intake.

Men are different. In men the risk of heart disease seemed lowest for the most frequent drinkers. For example, men who drank on one day a week had a 7% reduced risk, while men who drank daily had a 41% reduced risk.

This suggests that it does not matter how much men drink, as long as they drink every day.

Please don't forget however that the benefits of alcohol on coronary heart disease are by far exceeded by the harmful effects of heavy alcohol drinking - don't use this research as an excuse to increase your drinking ... tempting though that might be for some of us!