A study of women
taking beer shows that, it is a double-edged sword. Women who drink beer
moderately were less at risk for heart attacks, but more at risk for cancer.
How’s that for making awkward life choices?
Researchers at the
Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg followed a representative
selection of the middle-aged female population from 1968 to 2000 (when the
women in the study were between 70 and 92 years old).
They found out that
women who drink beer at most once or twice per week run a 30% lower risk of
heart attack, compared with both heavy drinkers and women who never drink beer.
These are the findings of a Swedish study which has followed 1,500 women over a
period of almost 50 years.
With the help of data
from the study, the researchers attempted to chart the relationship between the
intake of different types of alcoholic beverages and the incidence of heart
attacks, stroke, diabetes and cancer.
In the study in
question, the 1,500 women were asked about the frequency of their consumption
of beer, wine or spirits (from ‘daily’ to ‘nothing in the past 10 years’), and
about various physical symptoms.
The results reveal
that over the 32-year follow-up period, 185 women had a heart attack, 162
suffered a stroke, 160 developed diabetes and 345 developed cancer.
The study shows a
statistically significant connection between high consumption of spirits
(defined as more frequent than once or twice per month) and an almost 50%
higher risk of dying of cancer, compared with those who drink less frequently.
The study also reveals
that women who reported that they drank beer once or twice per week to once or
twice per month ran a 30% lower risk of a heart attack than women who drank
beer several times per week/daily or never drank beer. Moderate consumption of
beer thus seems to protect women from heart attacks.
“Previous research
also suggests that alcohol in moderate quantities can have a certain protective
effect, but there is still uncertainty as to whether or not this is really the
case. Our results have been checked against other risk factors for
cardiovascular disease, which substantiates the findings. At the same time, we
were unable to confirm that moderate wine consumption has the same effect, so
our results also need to be confirmed through follow-up studies,” explains
Dominique Hange, researcher at Sahlgrenska Academy.
The article “A 32-year
longitudinal study of alcohol consumption in Swedish women: Reduced risk of
myocardial infarction but increased risk of cancer” was published online in
Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care in July 2015.
Source: http://www.healthcareasia.org/
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