Drinking a large glass of wine every night can increase a woman’s risk of fatal heart disease by 45 percent, a new study suggests.
In addition, women who drink a lot (drinking at least three wine glasses a day for three months) are more than 68 percent more likely to develop heart disease than those who drink alcohol a few times a week.
Researchers found that the risk of regular alcohol use is significantly higher in women than in men.
Men who drink the equivalent of a glass of wine every night have a 33 percent increased risk of heart disease; 12 percent lower than in women, according to research by The Permanente Medical Group.
The scientists suggest that the gender difference may be due to hormonal differences between the sexes that affect the way the body processes alcohol.
In the new study, the average age of women at significantly increased risk of cardiovascular disease was 45 years – suggesting that alcohol’s harms may start at an earlier age than previously thought.
The findings come amid rising alcohol use among young and middle-aged American women.
The number of According to a survey of more than 200,000 American adults, the number of 30 to 44 American women who indulged in binge drinking doubled from 21 percent to 42 percent between 2006 and 2018. conducted by Columbia University.
Since 2016, the number of women dying from excessive alcohol consumption has increased by 35 percent, amounting to 58,701 cases. annual deaths in the US, according to CDC data.
Some experts have attributed much of this pattern to the social media trend of middle-aged women sharing their heavy alcohol with their thousands of followers – and joking about it.
It’s a phenomenon sometimes called “wine moms,” where moms turn to booze to cope with the stress of parenthood and joke about it on social media.
Since 2016, the number of women dying from excessive alcohol consumption has increased by 35 percent, amounting to 58,701 annual deaths in the US, according to data from the CDC.
‘Women feel they are protected from heart disease until they are older, but this research shows that even if you are young or middle-aged, if you are a heavy alcohol user or drink a lot, you are at risk for coronary heart disease. ” said Dr. Jamal Rana, a cardiologist at The Permanente Medical Group, who led the study.
The study included 189,000 women and 243,000 men aged 18 to 65, with an average age of 44 years.
Participants were placed into three categories based on the number of alcoholic drinks they reported drinking per week – and their health was tracked for four years.
Low drinkers drank one to two drinks per week, moderate drinkers three to seven drinks and heavy drinkers eight or more drinks per week.
The researchers also noted whether the participants should be classified as binge drinkers: if they reported drinking more than three drinks in one day over a three-month period, they qualified as binge drinkers.
The researchers took into account other elements that could have influenced health outcomes, such as age, physical activity, smoking and other known cardiovascular risk factors.
Since 2016, the number of women dying from excessive alcohol consumption has increased by 35 percent, amounting to 58,701 annual deaths in the US, according to data from the CDC.
By the end of the four-year study, more than 3,100 people had developed cardiovascular disease.
There was no significant difference between the groups with low and moderate drinking habits.
However, the heavy drinkers – who drank at least eight standard drinks per week – showed a surprisingly significant increased risk of 45 percent, compared to the low group.
The researchers say the most striking findings are the difference between men and women, and that the potential harm was seen in young people.
The average age for women to have a heart attack is 70 years old. The cohort in the current study shows signs of heart disease at a much younger age.
‘I did not expect these results in women in this lower age group, because we usually see an increased risk of heart disease in older women. It was definitely surprising,” Dr Rana said.
On average, women have smaller body mass and more body fat, which does not absorb alcohol well, compared to men.
This means that when they drink alcohol, it is less diluted and enters the bloodstream faster and in higher concentrations.
The risk of heart disease is thought to lie in alcohol’s impact on blood pressure, metabolism and body weight, all factors that can contribute to heart disease, the study authors wrote.
“I think there needs to be a lot more awareness, and alcohol should be part of routine health assessments in the future,” Dr Rana said.