Heavy Drinking Has Dangerous Effects on Heart
Posted on: Thursday, 15 May 2008, 00:05 CDT
A recent study found that heavy drinking resulted in an increased risk of having heart attacks and strokes in men and women.Defined by researchers as more than 21 drinks a week for men and more than 14 a week for women, heavy drinking causes high blood pressure, hardened arteries and rigid heart muscles in men, while it causes enlarged hearts in women.
Both effects have the same result: higher risks of heart disease and strokes.
"We definitely see quite a deleterious effect," said Dr. Azra Mahmud of St. James Hospital in Dublin.
Mahud presented her findings at a meeting of the American Society of Hypertension in New Orleans. She said that the most notable finding is alcohol’s “direct toxic effect” in women.
"Basically, women are not able to cope with high alcohol consumption . It is going directly to the heart and damaging it," she said.
Previous studies have shown that people with enlarged hearts have five to six times the risk of having heart attacks.
Once a heart has become enlarged, it is hard to undo, said Mahmud.
Mahmud’s findings show that there is a fine line between the benefits of moderate drinking and the dangerous effects of heavy drinking.
Overall, Mahmud’s study consisted of 200 men and women who were placed into three categories: nondrinkers, moderate drinkers, and heavy drinkers.
Moderate drinkers meant drinking fewer than 21 drinks per week for men or fewer than 14 a week for women.
About 20 percent of the women fell into the heavy drinker category and nearly 40 percent of the men were heavy drinkers, she said.
They found men who were the heaviest drinkers were the most likely to have high blood pressure and stiffening of the arteries and heart muscle. Women who were the heaviest drinkers were most likely to have enlarged hearts.
The dangerous affects were exacerbated by heavy drinking, resulting in raised risk for participants of both groups beyond what would be expected for people of the same age with high blood pressure.
Heart disease remains to be the No. 1 killer worldwide. About 17.5 million people died of heart disease in 2005, and that number is expected to increase by almost 20 million by 2015, according to the World Health Organization.
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Source: redOrbit Staff and Wire Reports
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