Wine for Women’s Hearts
Reported February 16, 2005
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — To keep their hearts healthy, women should drink wine. This is the advice of a Swedish research team.
Earlier studies have reported drinking wine is good for the heart. However, much of the research on the potential health benefits of alcohol has been done on men, and it is still not clear why moderate amounts of wine seems to be good for the heart.
To determine the effects of wine on women’s hearts, the alcohol habits of 102 women under age 75 were analyzed in Sweden. All of the women had survived a heart attack or heart surgery for blocked arteries.
After one year, a heart tracing (electrocardiogram, also known as ECG) was taken during routine activities to test heart rate variability. HRV measures the changes in time intervals between the beats of the heart. Decreased variability has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease and death.
The Swedish team found that HRV was highest in women who drank five or more grams of alcohol a day. They also found HRV was lowest in women who drank no alcohol at all.
Drinking wine, but not beer or spirits, was found to keep hearts the healthiest. HRV was highest among women who drank wine. Beer and spirits had little impact on HRV.
“The favorable effects on HRV may be one of the reasons wine protects heart health,” write the authors.
SOURCE: Heart, 2005;91:314-318