Harvard Medical School scentists find women with average age of 76 are at double the risk of alcohol's toxic effects on heart than elderly men
9:00PM BST 26 May 2015
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Only one alcoholic drink a day damages the hearts of elderly women, a new study has warned.
Despite previous research that suggested a drink a day might protect against some cardiovascular disease, the findings suggested otherwise, at least in the elderly.
Women who have just one alcoholic drink a day are defined as light to moderate drinkers. Yet new research found women with an average age of 76 who drink moderately had small reductions in heart function because of an enlargement of the wall of the heart's main pumping chamber - the left ventricular mass.
Scientists argued they are more susceptible to the toxic effects of alcohol on the heart than elderly men.
Research by the Harvard Medical School found men had to drink more than 14 beers, wines or spirits a week to suffer the same damage. Drinking at this level is classified as heavy drinking.
And the more elderly men and women drink, the greater the subtle changes to the heart's structure and function, researchers found.
Heavy drinking has been linked with a higher risk for cardiomyopathy - in which the heart muscle becomes larger, thicker, more rigid, or is replaced by scar tissue.
Men have to drink double the amount of alcohol as women to see the same ill effects
Dr Scott Solomon, professor of medicine, said: "Women appear more susceptible than men to the cardiotoxic effects of alcohol, which might potentially contribute to a higher risk of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, for any given level of alcohol intake."
The study, published in an American Heart Association journal, correlated weekly alcohol consumption among 4,466 people with an average age 76 to the size, structure and motion of various parts of the heart.
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Dr Alexandra Gonçalves said: "In spite of potential benefits of low alcohol intake, our findings highlight the possible hazards to cardiac structure and function by increased amounts of alcohol consumption in the elderly, particularly among women.
"This reinforces the US recommendations stating that those who drink should do so with moderation."
