Ain't Science Wonderful (cont.)

Alcohol May Reduce Men's Heart Risk
Study Shows Moderate Drinking Cuts Risk of Heart Disease in Men by 51%
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Nov. 18, 2009 -- Regular consumption of alcohol -- beer, wine, or hard liquor -- reduces the risk of heart disease in men by a third or more, according to a new Spanish study.

''Our study confirms what many other studies have already said," says researcher Larraitz Arriola, MD, of the Public Health Department of Gipuzkoa in San Sebastian, Spain. One difference, she says: Researchers in the new study separated ex-drinkers from lifelong teetotalers in hopes of better understanding the alcohol- heart health link.

Arriola and colleagues also found a beneficial effect of alcohol for women's heart health, she says, but it was not strong enough to be considered statistically significant. She suspects it's because of the relatively low number of women in the study who developed heart disease.

While drinking was associated with heart health, Arriola is quick to offer this caveat: ''I would not advise anybody to [start to] drink alcohol, because alcohol causes, as we mention in our paper, 1.8 million deaths a year" in addition to disabilities.

"If somebody already drinks alcohol, then I would advise to drink moderately, eat healthy food, and do some exercise."

(Original here.)