Alcohol is good for you

A good example of a cohort study is published today in the European Heart Journal. Danish researchers followed 12,000 people recruited between 1976 and 1978. At the inception of the cohort the people were questioned on a number of lifestyle risk factors. Over a 20 year period nearly 6000 of the subjects died and 1200 developed heart disease. Analyses of the results showed that those people who were moderate drinkers had a 30% lower risk of heart disease than teetotallers. Those who combined moderate drinking with regular exercise had even better outcomes, with a risk as much as 50% lower than physically inactive non-drinkers. Moderate drinking was defined as up to 14 units a week.

European Heart Journal: The combined influence of leisure-time physical activity and weekly alcohol intake on fatal ischaemic heart disease and all-cause mortality doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm574