Champagne could be good for the heart—and other lessons from a new risk analysis
Drinking champagne may be associated with significant cardiovascular benefits, according to a new study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.[1]
The study identified dozens of lifestyle changes that may help lower a person’s risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Some of the changes—eating more fruit, losing weight—were straightforward, but a few of the research team’s findings were unexpected. Drinking champagne and/or white wine, for example, was linked to a reduced SCA risk. The same was also true for spending more time at a computer—though that may tell us more about education levels than screen time.
These findings all come from a new exposome-wide association study (EWAS) out of China. The study’s authors explored the UK Biobank study, focusing on data from more than 500,000 patients. They then looked for associations between SCA and 125 different modifiable lifestyle factors.
“To our knowledge, all previous studies on the risk factors of SCA were hypothesis-driven and focused on a limited number of candidate exposure factors grounded in previous knowledge or theoretical frameworks,” wrote first author Huihuan Luo, PhD, a researcher with Fudan University in Shanghai, China, and colleagues. “This might lead to publication bias distorting summary conclusions, and might increase the likelihood of false positive findings resulting from inter-related exposures. More importantly, the hypothesis-driven approach might miss important exposures or relationships beyond the predefined hypothesis. To tackle these limitations, a hypothesis-free, data-driven EWAS has emerged as a robust analytical framework for simultaneously exploring hundreds of exposures. This data-driven approach does not rely on previous knowledge, and facilitates the identification of novel or underexplored associations.”
Luo et al. identified 56 different variables that appeared to impact a person’s SCA risk. Making lifestyle changes based on these variables could potentially prevent up to 63% of SCA cases.
Spending more time at a computer, drinking champagne/white wine and eating fruit were all associated with a reduced SCA risk. On the other hand, negative “fed-up” feelings, greater arm fat mass, a higher BMI, higher systolic blood pressure and a lower education level were all associated with a higher SCA risk.
The researchers did note that these findings must be examined closely. For instance, spending more time at a computer may not necessarily be helping patients—instead, it is more likely that individuals who spend more time at a computer are more likely to have more education in their background.
Even with that caveat in place, however, it is clear that modifiable lifestyle factors make a substantial impact on a person’s odds of SCA.
“Our study identified a wide range of modifiable factors applicable to general population, and adherence to corresponding interventions could produce tremendous public health benefits,” the authors wrote. “Despite potential overlap among the population attribution fractions of individual risk factors, they might still be instructive because they might indicate the benefits of the risk factor itself, as well as its related factors.”
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Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.