According to a French study, men who survive a heart attack and who drink between 2 and 4 glasses of wine each day are less likely to experience a second heart attack than men who consume no alcohol. Previous researchers have shown that drinking small amounts of any kind of alcohol can lower the risk of heart diseases.
During the study, researchers followed 353 male heart attack survivors for an average of 4 years. In that period, the investigators kept track of the men's drinking and eating habits, and noted if they experienced an additional heart attack. They recorded a total of 104 additional heart events among the study participants during the follow-up period, most of which were recurrences of the patients' heart disease.
The researchers found that men who drank an average of two drinks each day were 59% less likely than those who drank no alcohol to experience another medical emergency. In men who drank around 4 drinks each day, the risk was reduced by 52%. The vast majority of alcohol consumption in the men studied was wine; consequently, it was impossible to determine if the risks of a second heart attack were influenced by alcohol or some other ingredient in wine.
The American Heart Association (AHA) currently recommends that otherwise healthy men should drink no more than 2 servings of alcoholic beverages per day. The limit of 2 drinks per day is placed on all men regardless of their weight and how much they exercise. The limit is even lower for women. The study added that these findings do not necessarily indicate that drinking wine helps prevent a first heart attack in men.
Circulation, September 2002, Vol. 106 (10)