Study highlights cardiovascular benefits of moderate alcohol intake

Drink up, folks—but in moderation, suggests a study published Aug. 14 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

When compared to lifetime abstainers, light to moderate alcohol drinkers had a reduced risk of greater than 20 percent for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD)-specific mortality, according to data from more than 30,000 deaths in the United States.

A research team led by Bo Xi, MD, of the School of Public Health at Shandong University in China, matched survey data from 333,247 participants to National Death Index records through 2011.

Based on responses, participants were split into six groups: lifetime abstainers, lifetime infrequent drinkers, former drinkers, and current light, moderate and heavy drinkers.

Light drinkers were categorized as having less than three alcoholic beverages per week. Moderate drinking was considered up to 14 drinks per week for men and up to seven drinks per week for women.

After a mean follow-up time of 8.2 years, 34,754 deaths were analyzed among the surveyed participants. Light drinkers showed a 21 percent decrease in risk for all-cause mortality when compared with lifetime abstainers and a 26 percent decrease in CVD-specific mortality. Moderate drinkers showed decreases of 22 and 29 percent, respectively, versus teetotalers.

Heavy drinking and binge drinking, on the other hand, was associated with significantly greater risk of all-cause fatality and cancer-specific fatality.

Xi and colleagues noted their research supported the existence of a J-shaped statistical curve, where some intake is beneficial but excessive consumption is more harmful than abstaining completely.

“Light-to-moderate drinking might be protective, especially for CVD, but heavy or binge drinking has serious health consequences, including death,” they wrote. “A balance between beneficial and detrimental effects of alcohol consumption on health should be considered when making individual or population-wide recommendations, but the reduction of harmful or high consumption of alcohol remains necessary and essential.”

The authors acknowledged survey responses may be subject to recall bias and participants could have changed their behaviors after taking the survey. However, in an accompanying editorial, Giovanni de Gaetano, MD, PhD, director of the Department of Epidemiology and Prevention at IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed, said the scope of the study and the “sound” methodology provided robust support of the J-shaped curve.

“Younger people should be informed to not expect any substantial benefit from moderate drinking,” he wrote. “For most older persons, the overall benefits of light drinking, especially the reduced CVD risk, clearly outweigh possible cancer risk."