For Heart Health, Liquor Is Quicker for Women and Slower for Men

NY Times ^ | June 6, 2006 | NICHOLAS BAKALAR

[neverdem]

An alcoholic drink a day can significantly reduce the risk for heart disease in men, a new study finds, but women get almost the same benefit with only one drink a week.

The report, which appears online in the British medical journal BMJ, suggests that for women, alcohol intake is the primary protective factor, while for men, it is drinking frequency.

The Danish study included 27,178 men and 29,875 women volunteers who were free of coronary heart disease at the start of the study. They filled out questionnaires and underwent interviews about their eating and drinking habits, recording how many drinks they had per week. A drink was defined as containing 12 grams of ethanol, a little less than one-half ounce.

The researchers then followed the subjects for an average of 5.7 years. There were 749 coronary heart disease events among the women, and 1,238 among the men. Women consumed an average of 5.5 drinks a week; men, an average of 11.3.

For men, the more they drank, the lower the risk. One drink a week lowered the risk by about 7 percent, two to four drinks by 22 percent and five or six drinks a week by 29 percent. Those who drank every day had a 41 percent lower risk of heart disease than those who did not drink at all. Even among men who had up to 35 drinks per week, the protection persisted.

With women, the trend was different. One drink a week lowered the risk by 36 percent, but daily drinking lowered it by 35 percent. In other words, for women, alcohol consumption had a significant protective effect, but the frequency of drinking had none

[GSlob]

I'll drink to it.

[SR 50]

Yeah, me too. I'm doing my part, I drink at least "one" drink a day.

[Jaysun]

I like to keep my wench soused anyway. "Come take your medicine you racy little hellcat - did you wash my loin cloth and headband?"

[peggybac]

It's really not fair that men can drink daily and women once a week and get the same health benefit.

[onyx]

Just dayum.

[Pro-Bush]

Wine is fine, but whishey's quicker -- Ozzy

[Kay Syrah]

35 per cent is still good....

[caveat emptor]

The Danish study included 27,178 men and 29,875 women volunteers who were free of coronary heart disease at the start of the study.

They seem to be conflating "having heart disease" and "having a heart disease event". The article didn't give the ages, except to say that only 17% of the women were premenopausal.

Assuming that both men and women were at least approaching middle age, it just isn't credible that they started the study having no heart disease. They might have had no heart disease events, an altogether different matter.

Seems like junk.

[Caipirabob]

Never worked for me, wife's not a drinker. I had to rely on charm and that took years...

[Victor]

That's it....where's my bottle of Scotch?

[jslade]

[neverdem]

They seem to be conflating "having heart disease" and "having a heart disease event".

Do you want to do coronary artery biopsies, or will stress tests suffice? Here's the article.

Prospective study of alcohol drinking patterns and coronary heart disease in women and men

[caveat emptor]

They seem to be conflating "having heart disease" and "having a heart disease event". Do you want to do coronary artery biopsies, or will stress tests suffice? Here's the article.

Did you read the article?

I skimmed it and found no mention of stress tests.

PET scans or something similar would have been good.

No time for thoughtful reply now, but may read the article closely later as it is an interesting topic.

[neverdem]

Did you read the article?

Last week I believe.

[caveat emptor]

CE: Did you read the article?
ND: Last week I believe.

Comments like "Do you want to do coronary artery biopsies, or will stress tests suffice?" suggest that you didn't pay close attention when you read the article, and that you don't give much thought to your comments when you make them.

The very idea that an invasive procedure to obtain samples of the coronary arteries of thousands of people with no history of "heart disease events" would be approved or even considered simply boggles the mind.

And if you post articles on medical research and have a link to the original article, please post it as well, perhaps in a comment. My guess is that there are plenty of people on FR who could read many of them with some understanding, though not necessarily with ease.

[neverdem]

The very idea that an invasive procedure to obtain samples of the coronary arteries of thousands of people with no history of "heart disease events" would be approved or even considered simply boggles the mind.

That should have been obvious, and the cost of doing so many stress tests would have been prohibitive.

And if you post articles on medical research and have a link to the original article, please post it as well, perhaps in a comment.

I did last week in a comment here.

[caveat emptor]

I did last week in a comment here.

But not in the thread we were discussing, sensei.

[neverdem]

But not in the thread we were discussing, sensei.

What is the link in comment# 13?

[caveat emptor]

What is the link in comment# 13?

Should be near the beginning of the thread, obviously, sensei.