Trinkgelage double heart attack risk

Excessive consumption of alcohol doubles the risk of myocardial infarction. Study: Drinking at the weekend are not only unhealthy for the liver, but also double the risk of heart attack.

24/11/2010

Compared to the moderate consumption of alcohol doubles the risk of suffering a heart attack, for example, when people drink excessively over the weekend, as a French study recently showed. For the comparison, the researchers examined the different drinking habits in France and Northern Ireland. For the long-term study, the researchers observed around 10 years 1000 men, who were at the beginning of the study between 50 and 59 years old and had no pre-existing conditions in the cardiovascular system. The men came from the French cities of Lille, Strasbourg and Toulouse as well as in the northern Irish Belfast.

Same amount, yet different risks
It became clear that the amount of alcohol consumption in both countries was very similar. However, there was a major difference: While the French men drank the same amount as the Irish volunteers, the French drank throughout the whole week. The Irish study participants usually drank the whole lot at once on Saturday. According to results, the men in Northern Ireland have about 20 times more excessive drinking than the participants in France. A massive consumption of alcohol is then indicated as such, if the person concerned drinks at least 50 grams of alcohol for one evening. In comparison, this is equivalent to four to five glasses of wine or five large glasses of beer.

Twice as many heart attacks in Northern Ireland
In the last decade, about twice as many men in Northern Ireland have had a heart attack than the French study participants. The researchers suspect two main aspects of the background. For one thing, the amount consumed in one evening is very crucial. On the other hand, it depends on which alcohol was mainly drunk. In Belfast, the subjects drank mainly beer and high-percentage alcohol, but hardly any wine. In France, on the other hand, wine, especially red wine, is drunk. Some studies have already suggested that moderate wine consumption (one glass of red wine per day) can have a positive effect on the heart and circulation and reduce the risk of heart attack. The scientists see two key points here: why, despite the same amount of alcohol, the men in Northern Ireland often suffer from heart failure. The further study results were published in the scientific journal "British Medical Journal". (Sb)

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Men live unhealthier than women

Image: Christoph Aron (pixelmaster-x)