|
Last Updated: Jun 30, 2008 - 11:14:37 AM |
MONDAY FEB 18, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new Canadian study found when it comes to protection against cardiovascular disease, drinking some other type of alcoholic beverage delivers the same benefit as drinking red wine does.
The study published in the February edition of the American Journal of Physiology, Heart and Circulatory Physiology also showed that the protective effect of drinking alcohol is limited to one drink per day. Two drinks would erase the benefit.
Red wine is highly touted as a heart healthy beverage. The most famous is the "French paradox" which says French people's diet does not seem healthier than the American diet, but French men and women have better heart health, a fact that many believe has something to do with drinking red wine.
On the other hand, the benefit from other types of alcohol is not as well known as red wine.
The study led by Dr. John Floras, director of cardiology research at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital and colleagues was meant to see if there is difference in the benefit between red wine and other alcoholic beverages.
In the study, the researchers assigned13 healthy non-smoking volunteers either 4 ounces of red wine, 1.5 ounces of ethanol or water randomly at three separate sessions over two weeks.
The wine contained a high level of resveratrol, a polyphenol found in plants such as red grapes, which is believed to the active compound that benefits the heart.
One drink of either red wine or alcohol resulted in dilation of blood vessels and reduction of the work the heart had to do, the study showed.
But after two drinks, the heart beat, amount of blood pumped out of the heart and action of the sympathetic nervous system increased. The blood vessels also lost its ability to expand to respond to an increase in blood flow.
Increased heart rate and sympathetic verve activity are regarded as markers for hypertension, heart failure and sudden death.
Floras warned that they measured the effects of these drinks on one occasion only. The effects of daily wine or alcohol consumption may vary.
A scientist affiliated with foodconsumer.org cautioned that this study should not be taken as an excuse to start drinking alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are officially recognized by the US government as a carcinogen.
And he said response to ingested alcohol varies from person to person. One drink of alcohol may help one person, but harm another because not all people have the same enzyme system to promptly get rid of alcohol in the system.
American physicians recommend that those who drink should drink in moderation and those who do not drink should not start drinking.
Early studies showed alcohol drinkers enjoyed better health and had lower risk of death. But critics have pointed out that many studies were flawed because the researchers deliberately classified former drinkers who quit drinking after they found they had health problems as non-drinkers.
© 2004-2008 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
Top of Page
Search Consumer-friendly Health Sites
