GMA: Moderate Drinkers More Likely to Survive Heart Attacks

B O S T O N, April 18, 2001 -- — Drinking a cocktail or two every day can reduce your chances of heart failure and give you a better shot at surviving a heart attack, two new medical studies show.

Independent studies by researchers at Emory University in Atlanta and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that consuming one to three alcoholic drinks per day resulted in a 47 percent decrease in risk of heart failure and 32 percent decrease in risk of death following a heart attack.

"I think it's really overwhelming evidence," said Dr. Eric Rimm, of the Harvard School of Public Health. "Men and women who drink moderately have a 30 to 40 percent lower risk of having a heart attack than those who abstain."

Past research has drawn a fine line between drinking and a healthy heart: Moderate drinkers are less likely to have heart attacks than teetotalers, but heavy drinking can lead to heart failure.

ABCNEWS' Dr. Tim Johnson says this latest research takes a direct look at how alcohol affects those with the potential for heart problems.

"These studies," he told Good Morning America, "in contrast to all the ones we heard before, look specifically at certain groups with heart disease or the potential to develop it,"

"Those who had heart attacks had a better survival rate," said Johnson. "Those elderly more likely to develop heart failure had a lower rate to developing heart failure."

Just a Couple

Johnson said it's important for people to remember, when looking at these types of studies, that only moderate drinking is safe, and too many drinks can have an adverse effect.

"The bottom line for me is, if people are safely socially drinking — meaning one to two drinks a day — they should not stop doing that if they develop heart problems," said Johnson.

However, Johnson said he is reluctant to reccommend that people start drinking to protect their life if they do not already drink because of potential problems (such as alcoholism) that may result. Doctors involved in the studies also do not recommend that abstainers start drinking, or that moderate drinkers stop.

Moderate alcohol consumption means one drink a day for women, two for men. The study found that it made little difference whether patients drank beer, wine or liquor.

The number of heavy drinkers in the studies was too small to evaluate.

Compared with abstainers, light drinkers (seven drinks or fewer per week) were about 20 percent less likely to die and moderate drinkers (more than seven drinks per week) were about 30 percent less likely to die.

Past research suggests that alcohol benefits the heart by protecting artery walls and boosting levels of HDL, the so-called good cholesterol, which helps break up plaque deposits.

Doctor's Advice

But some physicians express concern that the findings will encourage people to drink with wild abandon and ignore alcohol's negative impacts on health.

"Heart disease is very serious business," said Dr. Samir Zakhari, the head of basic research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "People should always seek the advice of a cardiac specialist in regards to alcohol consumption. Any advice for or against alcohol should be tailored specifically to each individual patient."

Doctors should look at patient's age, gender, specific nature and severity of heart disease, family history of all diseases, medication use, and smoking habits, before giving advice on alcohol consumption, he said.

Other physicians pointed out that heavy drinkers were not included in the studies and that drinking alcohol can cause a myriad of health problems, damage heart tissue and heart function, and may be linked to other diseases such as breast cancer.

Researchers in each study looked at the records of approximately 2,000 patients at different U.S. medical centers. The new research appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.