Scientists from St. Vincent’s University Hospital found that alcohol drinking levels currently considered safe by some countries are linked with the development of heart failure.
The research was presented at Heart Failure 2022 and was conducted by Dr. Bethany Wong et al.
According to the World Health Organization, the European Union is the heaviest-drinking region in the world.
It is well recognized that long-term heavy alcohol use can cause a type of heart failure called alcoholic cardiomyopathy.
In the study, the team analyzed data from 744 adults over 40 years of age either at risk of developing heart failure due to risk factors (e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity) or with pre-heart failure (risk factors and heart abnormalities but no symptoms).
The team found that compared to the low intake group, those with moderate or high alcohol use were younger, more likely to be men, and had a higher body mass index.
In the pre-heart failure group, compared with no alcohol use, moderate or high intake was linked to a 4.5-fold increased risk of worsening heart health.
The link was also found when moderate and high levels were analyzed separately.
In people with heart failure risk, there was no association between moderate or high alcohol use with progression to pre-heart failure or to symptomatic heart failure.
These findings suggest that drinking more than 70 g of alcohol per week is linked to worsening pre-heart failure or progression to symptomatic heart failure in Europeans.
The results show that countries should advocate lower limits of safe alcohol intake in pre-heart failure patients.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about cannabis and heart attack, and COVID-19 is a much bigger risk to the heart than vaccination.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to reverse heart failure with diet, and results showing vitamin C may help treat heart rhythm problem.
Copyright © 2022 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
