'Heavy' Drinking linked to Strokes

Image and blurb taken from here.

Men who average three drinks a day and women who average two face a significantly higher risk for stroke in middle age, a new study has found. The study by Swedish scientists examined drinking habits of more than 11,000 twins over four decades, and found that those they defined as “heavy” drinkers in their 50s and 60s have a 34 percent higher risk for stroke than more moderate drinkers. That makes excessive alcohol consumption a greater risk factor in strokes than high blood pressure and diabetes. Heavy drinkers also were more likely to have strokes five years earlier than light drinkers, regardless of their genetics or other health habits. The findings are consistent with the American Heart Association’s recommendations that men not exceed two drinks a day and women, one. Previous studies have found that moderate drinking can have a protective effect on heart disease and overall mortality, and the Swedish study found that abstaining from alcohol altogether did not lower the risk of stroke. Drinking is “like Jekyll and Hyde,” Tara Narula, a cardiologist at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital, tells CBSNews.com. “It can be medicinal and beneficial or poisonous and detrimental, depending on how much you use.”

Of course, according to an earlier article, we can drink coffee and undo the harm....

Taken from the February 20th edition of the Week Magazine. See how I am catching up on my reading? Really good stuff in this edition from long ago! But now I can toss the pages I have been saving for months.