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Title: Alcohol habit improves survival after heart attack
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.mnn.com/food/beverages/s ... r-heart-attack#comments-116117
Published: Oct 30, 2011
Author: Reuters
Post Date: 2011-10-30 09:45:52 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 143
Comments: 13
Women who drank anywhere from a few alcoholic drinks a month to more than three a week in the year leading up to a heart attack ended up living longer than women who never drank alcohol, according to a U.S. study. The findings, which focused on more than 1,000 women and were published in the American Journal of Cardiology, add to mounting evidence that alcohol, regardless of the type of drink, can be good for the heart. "One thing that was interesting was that we didn't see differences among different beverage types," said Joshua Rosenbloom, a student at Harvard Medical School who led the study. "The most recent evidence suggests that it's the alcohol itself that's beneficial." There was a similarly reduced risk of dying within the follow up period whether the women drank wine, beer or hard liquor, Rosenbloom and his colleagues found. "One drink a day is a really good target, assuming that a person can be disciplined about that," said James O'Keefe, a cardiologist at St. Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri, who was not involved in the study. Researchers surveyed more than 1,200 women hospitalized for a heart attack. They asked questions about how many alcoholic drinks the women usually consumed, along with other health and lifestyle questions. After at least 10 years of follow up, the team found that 44 out of every 100 women who had abstained from alcohol had died, while 25 out of every 100 light drinkers and 18 out of every 100 heavy drinkers had died. This translated to about a 35 percent lower chance of dying during the follow up period for women who drank, compared to those who didn't. In an earlier study including men and women, O'Keefe found that people who continued to drink moderately after having a heart attack had better health than those who abstained. "You don't need to assume that people need to stop drinking once they develop heart disease," he said. "The problem is that alcohol is a slippery slope, and while we know that a little bit is good for us, a lot of it is really bad." On the Web: The American Journal of Cardiology, Oct. 18 2011. (Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies) Comments: Excuse ME? quote:"and while we know that a little bit is good for us, a lot of it is really bad." How so if four paragraphs before that it clearly states the opposite! Just another example of how low the standards in academia have become. Did the participants in the follow-up study maintain the same level of drinking over the 10 yr period? Was that properly adjusted for in terms of weight gain/losses? Wouldn't the women's ages at the time of their first cardiac event be a better predictor of mortality? If you really want to do a controlled study on correlations between drinking and CV health, 1200 samples (where all the men are for some unexplained reason eliminated) over 10 years does not and cannot show any correlation. Might even be more "scientific" to compare CV health between populations like Saudi Arabia (no alcohol whatsoever) and let's say Russia.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 3.
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
I only drank when I needed to do a little of it to socialize with fellow paratroopers in the Army. Personally, I don't miss not drinking what little drinking I did before 1990. People are generally better without any alcohol at all in their life.
Spoilsport! I rarely drink anymore, but that is as much habit as anything - alcohol interferes with the higher cognitive levels and most of my favorite activities such as writing, talking, listening to classical music, reading, etc., ... all require full awareness for maximum enjoyment. Having said that though a nice Beaujolais or Burgundy with dinner is a delight. As well I still have a fond affectation for a wee bit of uisge beatha (Gaelic - "water of life" i.e., Scotch/Irish Whiskey for the uninitiated) or a good Cognac and a good cigar. I've also been known to indulge in that most delightful of life giving elixirs - Port. Sometimes savoring life is enhanced by savoring other pleasures.
I know, my bad. I try not to be on this topic, but sometimes I have to cut to the point of my opinions on alcohol. Hey, I keep beer for my friends when they stop by and don't do Carry Nation sort of saloon busting now. ;-D Carry nation https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Carrie_Nation
#6. To: Ferret (#3)
What a sour hate filled looking woman. She reminds me of H.L. Mencken's definition of Puritanism:
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#2. To: Ferret (#1)
#3. To: Original_Intent (#2)
"Spoilsport!"
Replies to Comment # 3. Carry nation
Puritanism, n., "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy."
End Trace Mode for Comment # 3.