Introduction to Heart Health
Talk about a bubbling breakthrough. Your next toast could be for your ticker, as researchers say that drinking the right drink can help save your life. A new study indicates that the regular drinking of champagne and/or white wine could reduce the risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) – a serious state that claims the life of over 436,000 Americans every year.
Study Findings
The study published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology identified 56 modifiable risk factors for SCA, based on the data of over 500,000 people. The researchers suggest that 40% to 63% of the cases of sudden cardiac arrest could be prevented by changing only some of these factors. Apart from the fact that you drink champagne and white wine, there are some other factors that are protective for your heart, such as eating more fruit, maintaining a healthy BMI, remaining optimistic, and being well-trained.
Risk Factors for SCA
In the meantime, it was found that high blood pressure, poor sleep, sitting behavior, smoking, and excess fat – especially around the arm – increase the SCA risk. The study showed significant associations between different modifiable factors and SCA, whereby changes in lifestyle are most effective when preventing cases. One of the "most fascinating findings" is that these advantages were specially associated with champagne and white wine, in which "long-cherished assumptions about the specificity of the cardiocrotic properties of red wine were questioned".
Alcohol Consumption and Heart Health
Research on the underlying mechanisms remains unclear, but these results reinforce the idea that the advantages of moderate alcohol consumption are more complex than previously assumed. The new research follows a recently carried out study, in which doubts about the many years of conviction appear that red wine is actually "healthier" than white. In general, alcohol in the health sector has become a controversial topic. On the one hand, the general surgeon has warned that a lot of alcohol increases the risk of several cancers. On the other hand, recent research supports the idea that moderate alcohol consumption is advantageous for the health of the brain, possibly because alcohol plays a role in one of the other risk factors – social connection – possibly prevailing physical health.
Safe Alcohol Consumption
As a thumb rule, drinking alcohol is "probably safe if you have one or less drinks a day if you have no heart problems, but alcohol consumption increases blood pressure, triglycerides, atrial fibrillation and – in higher doses – is a direct toxin up to the heart, so much so that we have a sentence in cardiology – alcohol cardiomyopathy". Alcohol cardiomyopathy is a heart disease that is caused by chronically strong alcohol consumption – and can be fatal.
