Most studies focus only on an assessment of how much alcohol to drink in order to lower the mortality rate caused by heart attack. Very often drinking wine, but more particularly other alcoholic beverages, i.e. the so-called drinks, were shown by the number of emptied wine glasses or the amount of drinks consumed during a whole week.
It is far better to consume small amounts of alcohol as often as possible, best of all every day
This comes principally from the practice common in the United States, where the majority of drinks are consumed at the end of the week. Some later works however report that the frequency of drinking is more important than the amount of alcohol consumed. It has been demonstrated that it is best to drink small amounts of alcohol but often. Excessive one-off drinking on the other hand has the effect of increasing the death rate from heart attack, even when the total amount of alcohol consumed throughout the week does not in itself exceed a moderate dosage.
Recent works from Australia and from Boston have conclusively ended the discussion on how often one should drink. In the Australian report it was shown how it is best to drink on five to six days a week. The Boston work clearly proved that the best is to drink a small amount of alcohol daily, while the differences in any small overall amounts of alcohol consumed were insignificant.
We do not recommend drinking alcoholic beverages when suffering from an illness which can be aggravated by alcohol consumption
A very important question remained, when not to drink alcohol at all. Other than during pregnancy and when breastfeeding. We do not recommend drinking alcoholic beverages when suffering from an illness which can be aggravated by alcohol consumption, especially disorders of the liver or stomach ulcers, from abdominal inflammations, certain blood disorders and tumours, in particular those of the liver, oral cavity, larynx and oesophagus. Likewise, alcoholism in the family is a warning sign and nor would we recommend the drinking of alcohol for the prevention of heart attack in someone who is directly related to an alcoholic. The use of certain prescribed drugs cannot be combined with the drinking of alcohol either. While, obviously, drinking alcohol and driving a vehicle is forbidden by law.
It is far better to consume small amounts of alcohol as often as possible, best of all every day. We must steer clear of alcohol if suffering from certain illnesses, alcoholism in the close family and while using certain medication.
Source: Pít či nepít (Pití vína a srdeční infarkt) / To Drink Or Not To Drink (Wine drinking and cardiovascular diseases)
© Milan Šamánek, Zuzana Urbanová
© RADIX, spol. s r.o.
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