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- New research has found that drinking one small glass of wine or beer a day can lead to heart problems.
- The largest study on alcohol consumption and atrial fibrillation (AFib) found that people who drink one drink a day are 16% more likely to develop AFib.
- Those who develop AFib, an irregular heartbeat, have a higher risk of stroke and heart failure.
- The findings dispute the idea that alcohol use in moderation has preventive properties, such as improving heart health.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
U.S. health officials recommend that men drink no more than two drinks a day and women drink no more than one drink a day to avoid the dangerous side effects of long-term alcohol addiction such as heart disease, high blood pressure and liver disease.
But new research suggests that even drinking one drink a day can have long-term health consequences.
Read more: Some experts say you should not drink before getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but you do not have to cut out alcohol completely
A study published by the European Society of Cardiology analyzed data from 108,000 people in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Italy from 1982 to 2010. The results found that people who drank 12 grams of ethanol a day – equivalent to one small glass of wine or beer – had a 16% increase in their risk of atrial fibrillation over the next 14 years.
The risk only increased with more alcohol consumption, as those who drank two drinks a day had an increase of 28% and those who drank more than four a day increased to 47%.
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is when your heart beats irregularly and rapidly, which can increase a person’s risk of stroke and heart failure. According to the American Heart Association, 15% to 20% of strokes are caused by AFib.
According to researchers, this is the largest study ever done on the effects of alcohol on AFib.
While drinking four or more drinks a night, better known as drinking alcohol, is associated with an increased risk of heart failure, researchers say the new findings challenge the decades-old ideas about the preventative nature of alcohol in moderation.
The findings the idea that “one glass of red wine a day” is healthy
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The idea that red wine helps prevent heart disease is popular after scientists published a paper on French drink culture and heart health as a case study in 1980, entitled “The French Paradox”.
The theory has had a lasting effect on the perception of red wine, but cardiologists say red wine’s health benefits are too high. Kelly Burch of Insider earlier reported the American Heart Association said drinking red wine does not lead to a healthy heart.
A limitation on the study was that it included only European adults aged 24 to 97 years, so the data could not be generalized for a world population.
According to dr. However, Renate Schnabel, lead author of the study and cardiologist at the University Heart and Vascular Center in Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany, directly challenges the findings of the French paradox.
“These findings are important, as the regular consumption of alcohol, ‘a glass of wine a day’ to protect the heart, as recommended in the licking press, for example, should probably no longer be suggested without balancing risks and potential benefits. “all cardiovascular diseases, including atrial fibrillation,” said Schnabel.