Red wine may have attractive health benefits, but new research suggests two or more glasses a day could damage the hearts of elderly people.
Researchers looked at alcohol consumption and heart health in 4,466 people with an average age of 76, the American Heart Association reported. The study showed the more people drank, the more likely they were to experience changes in heart structure and function. Men who drank more then 14 alcoholic drinks per week were more likely to have enlargement of the wall of the heart's main pumping chamber; women who drank moderately saw minor changes in heart structure.
"Women appear more susceptible than men to the cardiotoxic effects of alcohol, which might potentially contribute to a higher risk of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, for any given level of alcohol intake," said Scott Solomon, senior author of the study and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of noninvasive cardiology at Brigham and Women's in Boston.
Past research has suggested moderate drinking can prevent some cardiovascular disease, but heavy drinking was associated with cardiomyopathy. Moderate drinking is generally defined as two drinks a day for men and one for women.
"In spite of potential benefits of low alcohol intake, our findings highlight the possible hazards to cardiac structure and function by increased amounts of alcohol consumption in the elderly, particularly among women. This reinforces the U.S. recommendations stating that those who drink should do so with moderation," said Alexandra Gonçalves, lead author of the study and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Brigham and Women's in Boston.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.
