ALCOHOL: Frequent drinking worse for your heart than binge drinking – study
October 29, 2019 • 1 min read
-- No one is suggesting that one form of boozing is better (less damaging, shall we say) than another. Alcohol – a group 1 carcinogen – is bad no matter how much or often you drink.
But when it comes to heart health, having one to two drinks daily may increase your risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AFib) more than binge drinking on weekends.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder and increases the risk of stroke by up to five-fold. Symptoms include palpitations, racing or irregular pulse, shortness of breath, tiredness, chest pain and dizziness.
New research, published in EP Eurospace – the Journal of the European Society of Cardiology, analysed data from nearly 10 million people and found that a greater frequency of drinking sessions increased the chance of being diagnosed with Afib.
People who drank daily had the greatest risk of developing Afib among all study participants, while those who drank just once a week demonstrated the lowest risk. Interestingly, those who engaged in binge drinking (> 5 drinks per session) did not show any increased risk for developing new-onset atrial fibrillation.
Mind your AFDs.