Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Great News! Researchers say: 'Moderate Alcohol Consumption Can Help Prevent Heart Disease'

From the BBC:

Alcohol in moderation 'can help prevent heart disease'

"An alcoholic drink a day can help keep heart disease at bay, according to a review of 30 years of research.

The work, published in the British Medical Journal, showed a 14% to 25% reduction in heart disease in moderate drinkers compared with people who had never drunk alcohol.

Another article, by the same Canadian research group, showed alcohol increased "good" cholesterol levels... For many years, studies have suggested that drinking alcohol in moderation has some health benefits.

Scientists at the University of Calgary reviewed 84 pieces of research between 1980 and 2009.
One unit of alcohol in the UK, equivalent to half a pint of normal beer, contains 8g of pure alcohol.

This review showed that the overall risk of death was lower for those consuming small quantities of alcohol, 2.5g to 14.9g, compared with non-drinkers. The researchers also say regular moderate drinking reduced all forms of cardiovascular disease by up to 25%."

So I guess this means "bottoms up" ... in moderation of course ;)