Drinking less can help to improve the health of your heart, experts have said.
A reduction in alcohol consumption could improve the cardiovascular health of even light-to-moderate drinkers, research suggests.
The authors of the study, published in The British Medical Journal, challenged previous research which has suggested that light-to-moderate amounts of alcohol could actually have a protective effect for the heart.
The research, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with University College London and University of Pennsylvania in the US, examined 56 studies on drinking habits on more than quarter of a million people.
They found that people who carried a certain genetic variant associated with non-drinking and lower alcohol consumption had a "more favourable cardiovascular profile" than those without the ADH1B variant.
By using this genetic variant as an indicator of lower alcohol consumption, they were able to find associations between these individuals and improved cardiovascular health.
These people have a 10% lower risk of coronary heart disease, they found.
And carriers of the rs1229984 A-allele had lower blood pressure than non-carriers and a lower BMI, they added.
"These data show that individuals of European descent with a genetic predisposition to consume less alcohol had a reduced risk of coronary heart disease and ischaemic stroke, and lower levels of several established and emerging risk factors for cardiovascular disease," the authors said.
Source: Belfast Telegraph, 11/07/14
Safer Student Nights
eBulletin
Poll
