Raise a Glass to Your Health

The next time you bow out of happy hour with your colleagues, you may be missing out on a healthier life.

A new study based on the self-reported drinking habits of some 57,000 middle-aged Danes shows the more women drink—and the more often men drink—the healthier their hearts.

The study was conducted by Center for Alcohol Research at Denmark’s National Institute for Public Health.

But the American Heart Association (AHA) is wary about supporting the study wholesale.

“The risk of heart disease in people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol (an average of one drink for women per day) is lower than in nondrinkers,” said the Baltimore branch of AHA via a prepared statement. “However, it’s not recommended that nondrinkers start using alcohol or increase the amount they drink. Excessive drinking and binge drinking can contribute to obesity, high triglycerides, cancer, and other diseases, raise blood pressure, cause heart failure and leadA to stroke.”

Dr. Dawn Kershner, a cardiologist with Mid-Atlantic Cardiovascular Associates at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, said she advises her patients to drink in moderation and to limit their drinking to no more than two drinks per day. She said a regular glass of wine can act as a blood thinner and raise good cholesterol.

“If you drink once a week, your blood is only going to be thin once a week,” said Kershner. “You want to maintain the effects.”

The study differentiated between men and women’s alcohol consumption. However, Kershner said the benefit of moderate alcohol consumption by men and women is similar.

“I’m not sure there is a major difference,” she said. “It doesn’t make intuitive sense based on the mechanism of why we believe alcohol is good for you. Since there are numerous studies suggesting that it is good for you, I think that is minutiae.”