Men warned of stroke risk from three drinks a day

From: Roman Bystrianyk (rbystrianyk_at_gmail.com)
Date: 01/04/05 

Date: 3 Jan 2005 18:48:20 -0800

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item&id=514

James Meikle, "Men warned of stroke risk from three drinks a day",
Guardian, January 4, 2005,
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1382810,00.html

Men who consume three or more alcoholic drinks a day are 42% more
likely to suffer a stroke than non-drinkers, according to a study which
reinforces the message that more moderate consumption has some health
benefits.

Light drinkers are no more at risk than abstainers of suffering blood
clots in the brain, the medical histories of 38,156 US health
professionals over 14 years suggest.

But the gains - from any quantity of alcohol - in preventing strokes
are limited, says the study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Kenneth Mukamal, head of the researchers from Beth Israel Medical
Centre and the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston,
Massachussetts, said: "The participants who were at lowest risk for
stroke were the men who consumed one or two drinks on three to four
days of the week.

"The importance of drinking pattern for stroke risk parallels our
previous findings among this same group of men regarding alcohol
consumption and the risk of developing diabetes and coronary heart
disease.

"Among all three types of disease, the lowest risk seems to occur when
consumption is limited to one or, at most, two drinks, approximately
every other day, with little benefit shown above three to four drinking
days per week."

Dr Mukamal said: "I think there has been a subtle assumption that
moderate drinking is associated with a lower risk of ischaemic stroke
[caused by a blood clot blocking an artery serving the brain], similar
to the way it is associated with a lower risk of heart attack. But our
study did not demonstrate a statistically significant role for alcohol
in guarding against a stroke.

"While there does appear to be a small window for which light drinking
is associated with lower risk, it's important to note this window is
smaller than it is for heart disease and therefore you cannot
extrapolate between the two."

The extra risk for the three-or-more-a-day drinkers might be
attributable to alcohol's association with high blood pressure and
irregular heartbeat, he said. Red wine appeared to offer slightly more
protection against a stroke than other alcohol, although few men in the
study drank it on a daily basis.

Dr Mukamal said it had not been linked to a lower risk of heart disease
than other alcohol consumed by the men.

The Stroke Association in Britain recently warned binge drinkers that
they were increasing their risk of a stroke. But the levels at which
risks escalate - according to Dr Mukamal - appear to suggest that more
sobriety among less heavy drinkers is needed.

Britain is suffering from an "epidemic" of alcohol-related problems,
such as drink-fuelled violence and illness, the Royal College of
Physicians warned yesterday.

Professor Ian Gilmore, chairman of the college's alcohol committee,
said evidence from other countries showed that plans to allow pubs to
stay open 24 hours a day would exacerbate the situation.

Prof Gilmore said the key to tackling the problem was reducing the
availability of alcohol and increasing the price.

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