A Toast to Good Health
By Bonnie Prescott
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center staff
The holidays may be over, but if you’re preparing to head off for a relaxing winter vacation, you should be aware of what cardiologists call “holiday heart syndrome.”
“Holiday heart syndrome refers to heart rhythm disturbances which develop while a person is on vacation or away from work, and appears to be linked to heavier-than-normal alcohol consumption,” explains Dr. Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center whose research focuses on alcohol’s influence to men’s cardiac health.
Dr. Mukamal made this discovery by studying more than 7,500 men (average aged 50). He found that heavy alcohol consumption – defined as 35 or more drinks per week – significantly increased men’s risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a dangerous type of arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat.
“We found that the risk of developing atrial fibrillation was as much as 45 percent higher among the heavy drinkers compared with men who didn’t drink at all,” explains Dr. Mukamal. “Since our research found that this risk begins to increase at about four drinks per day, and clearly goes up at five drinks per day, it would seem to confirm what has long been suspected regarding periods of significant alcohol consumption, like during vacations.”
Atrial fibrillation develops when muscles in the heart’s upper chambers contract too quickly, causing an ineffective, irregular heartbeat. As a result, blood is not adequately pumped from the heart, and may pool and form clots. Blood clots that travel to the brain result in a stroke, and a subsequent study by Dr. Mukamal confirmed that heavy drinkers are more likely to suffer an ischemic stroke compared with nondrinkers. (There are two types of ischemic stroke: thrombotic stroke results from the development of a clot in the brain itself and embolic stroke results when a clot travels through the bloodstream from another part of the body and becomes lodged in the brain. In both cases, the brain is deprived of oxygen and nutrients, resulting in neurological damage or even death.)
But the news is not all bleak. Moderation, says Dr. Mukamal, is the key to safe – and healthy -- alcohol consumption.
“Over the years, our research has consistently demonstrated that among otherwise healthy men, those who drink alcohol in moderation seem to have fewer heart attacks,” he notes. Defined as one-half to two drinks per day, most days of the week, Dr. Mukamal’s research showed that men who consumed this amount had a 35 percent lower risk of heart attack compared with healthy men who didn’t drink at all.
“We suspect that drinking in these moderate amounts might protect men’s hearts both by raising levels of good HDL cholesterol and by acting a blood thinner to prevent the formation of blood clots,” adds Dr. Mukamal.
Above content provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. For advice about your medical care, consult your doctor.
Posted January 2009
