Moderate alcohol use lowers heart risk

CHARLESTON, S.C., March 10 (UPI) -- A U.S. study of middle-age non-drinkers who began consuming moderate amounts of alcohol saw an immediate benefit of lower cardiac disease morbidity.

Researchers at Medical University of South Carolina studied 7,697 people between ages 45 and 64 who were non-drinkers and who were participating in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study.

Over a 10-year period, the authors found 6 percent of the subjects began moderate alcohol consumption -- one drink per day or fewer for women and two drinks per day or fewer for men -- during the follow-up period.

The study, published in The American Journal of Medicine, found that after four years of follow-up, new moderate drinkers had a 38 percent lower chance of developing cardiovascular disease than did their non-drinking counterparts.

When comparing non-drinkers to wine-only drinkers, drinkers of other types of alcohol and heavy drinkers, the wine-only drinkers had the most significant reduction in cardiovascular events, the study said.

"A substantial cardiovascular benefit from adopting moderate alcohol drinking in middle age appears supported by the current study," Dr. Dana E. King said in a statement. "However, any such benefit must be weighed with caution against the known ill consequences of alcohol consumption."