Posted on 03/23/2004 6:56:17 PM PST by neverdem
Men with high blood pressure who drink moderate amounts of alcohol are less likely than nondrinkers to die of cardiovascular ailments like heart attacks and strokes, researchers reported yesterday.
The study's findings suggest that moderate drinking not only has protective cardiovascular effects for the general population, as previous studies have shown, but that it is also protective for people who already have hypertension.
The results are significant, the researchers said, because heavy drinking can contribute to high blood pressure, and some doctors warn hypertensive patients to avoid alcohol altogether.
"There are plenty of people who seem to have the impression that if they have hypertension they shouldn't be drinking alcohol at all," said Dr. J. Michael Gaziano, the study's lead author, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and an associate professor at the Harvard Medical School. "But that isn't based on any data. It's only beyond two drinks a day that you offset the benefits with the negative effects."
One drink is generally defined as a 12-ounce glass of beer, a 4-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of spirits.
The study, published in the March 22 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, is believed to be the largest to examine the effects of drinking on the health of people with hypertension. The researchers analyzed a subset of data from the Physicians' Health Study, a database of information on the medical conditions and habits of close to 100,000 doctors.
Of 14,125 men in the study who reported histories of hypertension but had no records of heart attacks, strokes, cancer or liver disease, 579 died of cardiovascular causes within several years, the study reported.
The men who drank one to six drinks a week had a 39 percent decreased risk of death from cardiovascular disease compared with those who drank rarely or not at all. Men who drank daily had a 44 percent reduced risk.
So few of the men consumed more than two drinks a day that the researchers did not separate them from the other participants, Dr. Gaziano said.
Moderate amounts of alcohol are believed to protect against cardiovascular disease in part by increasing levels of high-density lipoprotein, also known as the good cholesterol.
The new study does not recommend that nondrinkers with hypertension should start drinking to reduce the risk of heart disease. But patients with hypertension who are able to maintain light to moderate alcohol intake have no compelling reason to change their custom and eliminate a possibly beneficial habit, the authors wrote.
Dr. Daniel W. Jones, the dean of the University of Mississippi Medical School and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said the study would reassure people with hypertension who continued to drink moderately. But he expressed concern that the study findings might also encourage drinking among people who have more trouble limiting their alcohol intake.
The heart association, Dr. Jones said, prefers to promote exercise, healthy diets and other steps to prevent cardiovascular disease among people with or without hypertension.
I would think they don't have anything to generate any motivation in their life, or they were just lazy slobs in the first place.
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Text Version Entrez PubMed Overview Help | FAQ Tutorial New/Noteworthy E-Utilities PubMed Services Journals Database MeSH Database Single Citation Matcher Batch Citation Matcher Clinical Queries LinkOut Cubby Related Resources Order Documents NLM Gateway TOXNET Consumer Health Clinical Alerts ClinicalTrials.gov PubMed Central Privacy Policy |
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NCBI | NLM | NIH Department of Health & Human Services Freedom of Information Act | Disclaimer Mar 15 2004 17:59:45 |
I'm not sure where the figure of 120,000 came from, but I believe I read the original article in the Journal of the American Medical Association which cited the the numbers in the following abstract. The hour is too late for me to hunt it down.
BTW, don't misunderstand all docs as being politically correct and disregarding common sense, when many totally agree with self-defense as in the Second Amendment and are only worried about meritless lawsuits.
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Text Version Entrez PubMed Overview Help | FAQ Tutorial New/Noteworthy E-Utilities PubMed Services Journals Database MeSH Database Single Citation Matcher Batch Citation Matcher Clinical Queries LinkOut Cubby Related Resources Order Documents NLM Gateway TOXNET Consumer Health Clinical Alerts ClinicalTrials.gov PubMed Central Privacy Policy |
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NCBI | NLM | NIH Department of Health & Human Services Freedom of Information Act | Disclaimer Mar 15 2004 17:59:45 |
Honest honey!
Its heart medicine!
The benefits of light to moderate drinking extend outside the area of ingested chemicals. Many of us use a drink (or a smoke) as a means of relaxation. Being able to stand down and relax a bit every day is a life extender. Interesting that the creator set it up so that there are so many paradoxes, but thats the way it is. But one can only do this when one is the master of one's own fate. When smoking, drinking, or drug use take over one's life, (or becomes the focal point of one's life) then complete termination and rehab are in order. Take care everyone, now, it must be 5 o'clock somewhere.
lol
I think moderate drinkers drink for excitement, and weed worshippers do their stuff to mellow out. I'm not much on mellow people. lol
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