With all the talk about the positive effects that drinking alcohol may have on heart disease, some non-drinkers have wondered whether they should start drinking. British researchers conducted a study to see whether taking up regular drinking affected the risks for heart disease and death among middle-aged men.

They analyzed data from more than 7,000 men in 24 British towns who had been interviewed in 1978-1980 and again five years later, when they were asked specifically about their changes in alcohol intake. Here are the major findings:

• Men who continued to drink regularly had a lower risk of major coronary events (such as heart attack or stroke) or death due to heart disease, but a slightly increased risk of non-coronary mortality.
• New regular drinkers - most of them light drinkers - showed a lower risk of major coronary events than those who drank only occasionally.
• New drinkers had no reduction in coronary heart disease (CHD) or cardiovascular mortality; they had an increase in non-cardiovascular mortality.
• Among men with CHD, new drinkers experienced no mortality benefit compared with those who routinely had an occasional drink.

The study's investigators concluded that there is little support for encouraging older men who do not drink or who only drink occasionally to take up regular drinking, whether or not they have CHD.

Related information: Cholesterol information - Diet | Hypertension channel – Lifestyle changes - Alcohol

Source:  Wannamethee SG, Shaper AG. Taking up regular drinking in middle age: effect on major coronary heart disease events and mortality. Heart, January 2002;87:32-36. (Abs.)