Healthy living
Body matters
Alcohol raises heart risks for women
Women who enjoy a tipple too many could well be damaging their hearts, say scientists
Females who drink more than two alcoholic drinks a day are putting themselves at risk of developing a potentially fatal heart condition, according to scientists writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Researchers from Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital monitored 34,715 women over a period of about 13 years. They looked at the effects of regular alcohol consumption on the risk of a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. The participants were all over 45 years old and had no heart problems before the study began.
The team found that women who consumed two or more alcoholic drinks a day had a 60 per cent increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation as compared with women who abstained from alcohol.
'In the present study, alcohol consumption of up to two drinks per day was not associated with an increased risk of incident atrial fibrillation among initially healthy, middle-aged women. In contrast, the small group of women who consumed two or more alcoholic beverages per day had a 1.6-fold greater risk for atrial fibrillation relative to nondrinking women,' say the authors of the study.
Nearly 50,000 cases of atrial fibrillation are diagnosed in the UK every year. Sufferers tend to have a fast and erratic heart beat and symptoms include dizziness, chest pains and breathlessness. The condition is caused by a number of underlying health problems such as high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Sufferers have an increased risk of stroke and heart attack.
Although previous studies have found a link between alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation in men, this is the first study to find the same association in women.
'We already know that heavy drinking in men and women can damage the heart, and this can lead to an abnormal heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation,' says Ellen Mason Senior Cardiac Nurse at the British Heart Foundation. 'However, we should be cautious about these findings as an association does not mean a proven cause and further research is needed to prove this link.'
The findings are in line with official drinking recommendations. The Government recommends that women drink no more than 2-3 units of alcohol per day – roughly two small glasses of wine. The level for men is slightly higher (3-4 units) because women tend to have less water in the body than men and so the concentration of alcohol in the blood is higher – this is true even if the women is the same size as the man. There is also some evidence that women have less of an essential enzyme needed to break down alcohol.
A number of studies have highlighted the health risks for women who enjoy a regular tipple – a recent US study found that just one or two glasses of wine a day can increase the risk of breast cancer by as much as 10 per cent. However, research has also found that moderate consumption can guard against heart disease and may protect women's bones from osteoporosis.
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