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It is no secret that alcohol can increase the risk of stroke, but one wonders if drinking a moderate amount a day can protect you from this risk. Previous evidence implied one or two alcoholic beverages a day as potentially protective against stroke, but new research is accelerating these claims, using the genetic information of tens of thousands of people as evidence.
Debate
The debate over the potentially protective effect of moderate alcohol consumption on stroke comes from previous research linking benefit versus moderate drinking compared to non-drinkers. Questions, however, persisted as to whether this slightly lower risk was due to a protective effect of alcohol or simply because the non-drinkers had other health problems.
In particular, people who have totally abstained from drinking may have been former drinkers forced to stop drinking for health reasons. This health problem, in turn, could be at the origin of the slightly higher risk of stroke compared to people who drink only one or two alcoholic drinks a day.
New proof
To answer this question, here is a study recently published in The lancet which examined common genetic variants in East Asian populations known to reduce tolerance to alcohol. Individuals carrying these genetic variants often consume much lower amounts of alcohol than other people because of an unpleasant hunting reaction that they experience after drinking.
Since these genetic variants are random, they can occur in individuals regardless of any other factors that may influence the outcome of the studies. In the course of their research, scientists examined the genetic data of millions of people in China, assessing their drinking habits in the same way, and finally discovered that alcohol did not have any protective measures against the risk of stroke. However, there was not enough data to determine the risk of heart attack.
What it means for you
This study is bad news for people who thought that drinking a glass or two of wine a day could have a beneficial effect on health, at least with respect to strokes.
According to the study, researchers found that moderate to low alcohol consumption did not confer any protective effect against stroke. In fact, drinking only moderate amounts of alcohol a day increases the chances of having a stroke; All four extra drinks a day increase the risk of stroke by 35%.
People wishing to change their lifestyle to reduce the risk of stroke should instead consider removing alcohol from their diet, or at least quit consuming daily.
Harvard Health notes that strokes are often not a surprise in that many factors, only certain genetic factors, increase the chances of experiencing the potentially fatal problem. A number of lifestyle modifications reduce the risk of stroke, including weight loss, lower salt intake, a healthy diet, exercise and, as the new study points out, lower consumption of alcohol.
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