We all need our hours of fun and entertainment once in a while, and if we have a mood booster like alcohol, we are always ready to get the party started! Recent research, published in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging, reveals that more than two drinks daily could affect heart functions.
Extensively, study shows that women who love to indulge themselves in sipping some wine or beer now and then, are more exposed to heart failure than men who relate to the same entertaining habit. Elderly women are more susceptible to the cardiotoxic effects of alcohol.
This appears to be quite a surprising piece of news, as previous research revealed that alcohol, consumed moderately, is actually beneficial for the mind, body and heart. Specialists once told us that it’s great if we immerse our lips into those magic liquors and consume it wisely, as they only do good, making our blood flow better and our moods uplift.
However, this recent research reveals that men who consume more than 14 drinks a week are very exposed to serious health problems. Heavy drinking is linked to the enlargement of the left ventricle in the heart.
The study appears to be quite confusing though, as the associations highlighted don’t seem to prove a cause-effect link. Alcohol could bear a little influence in matters of the heart, literally and philosophically, but it’s not the main cause of our heart diseases, we could say.
Without being able to support and strengthen the data with facts when it comes to alcohol and its bad or good influence on our health, The American Heart Association recommends, for a change, that alcohol should be taken moderately. This should mean an average of two drinks daily for men and a single drink for the more delicate women.
As official reports reveal, a drink is the equivalent of one 12 ounce beer, 1.5 ounces of 80-proof spirits, 4 ounces of wine or 1 ounce of 100 proof spirits.
Researchers used data from 4466 elders who participated in a study called Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities. Apparently, more than half reported that they’ve never been drinking while the other half reported moderation in alcohol consumption. Their size, structure and motion in various parts of the heart was analyzed through a method called echocardiography. Relevant differences lacked, but a slightly increase in volume of the left ventricle in the heart was observed, reported and registered in the recent study.
