FEBRUARY 20: ALCOHOL AND YOUR HEART

29 Days to a Healthier Heart

You may have heard that moderate consumption of alcohol is beneficial for heart health. However, is this really true for everyone? And if so, what does ‘moderate consumption’ mean?

According to a meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease, this relationship is ‘complicated’. Researcher Dr. Juergen Rehm states that “while a cardioprotective association between alcohol use and ischaemic heart disease exists, it cannot be assumed for all drinkers, even at low levels of intake”. In addition, it is important to remember that even when there may be a beneficial association between low levels of consumption and heart disease for some individuals, this does not negate the detrimental effectconsumption can have on many other disease outcomes. For example, consumption is a risk factor for several cancers, with even one drink a day increasing the risk of breast cancer.  According to Dr. Rehm “with as little as one drink a day, the net effect on mortality is still beneficial. After this, the net risk increases with every drink.”

Despite the evidence that one drink a day MAY reduce heart disease risk, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada does NOT advocate drinking your way to a healthier heart, claiming that you are “better off eating a healthy diet, being physically active by doing moderate- to vigorous-intensity aerobic activity for 150 minutes a week, and becoming smoke-free”.   They suggest that if you don’t drink alcohol, don’t start, and if you do, limit yourself to one or two standard drinks a day, to a weekly maximum of nine for women and 14 for men.*

One drink equals:

• 341 mL / 12 oz (1 bottle) of regular strength beer (5% alcohol).
• 142 mL / 5 oz wine (12% alcohol).
• 43 mL / 1 1/2 oz spirits (40% alcohol).

* These guidelines do not apply if you have liver disease; mental illness; are taking certain medications; have a personal or family history of drinking problems; have cancer; are pregnant or are trying to get pregnant; are breastfeeding; or are told not to drink for legal, medical or other reasons. If you are concerned about how drinking may affect your health, talk to your doctor.

For more information on how to lower your risk when drinking, see: Canada’s Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (www. http://www.heartandstroke.com)

Michael Roerecke and Jürgen Rehm. The cardioprotective association of average alcohol consumption and ischaemic heart disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction 107: doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03780.x. For Immediate release – Monday January 30, 2012, CAMH

-Katie Weststrate, RHN, RYT, MScCH, ND