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American Morning
Study Says Moderate Drinking Can Lower Risk of Stroke
Aired February 05, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard about the benefits of moderate drinking for the heart. Now, there's a new study that says it can also lower your risk of stroke. Interesting. We thought we'd pick Elizabeth Cohen's brain on this one down at the CNN Center to tell us a little bit more.
Good morning, Elizabeth. What do we know?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
What we know is that in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they looked at 35 studies that were done on stroke and alcohol, and here are the conclusions that they made. They found that when people had one to two drinks a day, they decreased their stroke risk by 17 percent. However, when they had five or more drinks a day, they increased their stroke risk by 64 percent. That is, obviously, a large increase.
So you know, in America, sometimes, I think we like to think if a little is good, more is better. This is obviously an example where that's not true. People might be wondering what exactly is a drink. It's a glass of wine, it's a glass of beer, it's one mixed drink, and a lot of people ask does it matter exactly what you drink? And in this study, they didn't look at that, but many, many other studies have for heart disease, and what they found is that it really doesn't matter what you drink. It's the alcohol that seems to help, and so it really doesn't matter what type of alcohol you're drinking.
However, what studies have also found is that while drinking in moderation, a drink or two a day, may be a good idea, there are many other things that would be much better for you to do in order to decrease your risk of stroke. In other words, there are other health changes that you can make that would be a lot more useful.
Let's take a look at what some of those health changes are. For example, you can prevent a stroke by controlling your high blood pressure, by controlling your high cholesterol, by stop smoking, by losing weight if your overweight, and by treating sleep apnea. So as helpful as drinking a little bit might be, those other things would be more helpful.
Now of course people also want to know, what is it about alcohol that seems to be helpful? For stroke, they're not quite sure, but they have looked at this for heart disease, and this is what they found. What they found is that when people drink, it seems to decrease the inflammation and increase the oxidation, and in addition, what it does is that it raises the good cholesterol, that's a good thing, and it thins the blood, which makes it less likely to clog and start a heart attack.
So the bottom line here -- drinking in moderation, one or two drinks is a good idea. Much more than that, especially more than five is not such a great idea -- Bill
HEMMER: As you point out, there are other ways to do this. You could thin your blood essentially by taking the baby Aspirin that's been talked about?
COHEN: Exactly. That's not something you want to do until you talk to your doctor. There might be other risks involved in doing that. The drinking a day hypothesis, doctors really seem to agree on this. Again, one on two drinks a day. One drink for women, two drinks for men.
Now it's interesting, when people start having three or four drinks a day, it doesn't seem to do anything for them. It doesn't seem to help or hurt them. So three or four a day doesn't really do anything. Five or more is where you start getting into trouble.
HEMMER: Thanks, Elizabeth, appreciate it, Elizabeth Cohen at the CNN Center.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 5, 2003 - 08:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We've heard about the benefits of moderate drinking for the heart. Now, there's a new study that says it can also lower your risk of stroke. Interesting. We thought we'd pick Elizabeth Cohen's brain on this one down at the CNN Center to tell us a little bit more.
Good morning, Elizabeth. What do we know?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.
What we know is that in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they looked at 35 studies that were done on stroke and alcohol, and here are the conclusions that they made. They found that when people had one to two drinks a day, they decreased their stroke risk by 17 percent. However, when they had five or more drinks a day, they increased their stroke risk by 64 percent. That is, obviously, a large increase.
So you know, in America, sometimes, I think we like to think if a little is good, more is better. This is obviously an example where that's not true. People might be wondering what exactly is a drink. It's a glass of wine, it's a glass of beer, it's one mixed drink, and a lot of people ask does it matter exactly what you drink? And in this study, they didn't look at that, but many, many other studies have for heart disease, and what they found is that it really doesn't matter what you drink. It's the alcohol that seems to help, and so it really doesn't matter what type of alcohol you're drinking.
However, what studies have also found is that while drinking in moderation, a drink or two a day, may be a good idea, there are many other things that would be much better for you to do in order to decrease your risk of stroke. In other words, there are other health changes that you can make that would be a lot more useful.
Let's take a look at what some of those health changes are. For example, you can prevent a stroke by controlling your high blood pressure, by controlling your high cholesterol, by stop smoking, by losing weight if your overweight, and by treating sleep apnea. So as helpful as drinking a little bit might be, those other things would be more helpful.
Now of course people also want to know, what is it about alcohol that seems to be helpful? For stroke, they're not quite sure, but they have looked at this for heart disease, and this is what they found. What they found is that when people drink, it seems to decrease the inflammation and increase the oxidation, and in addition, what it does is that it raises the good cholesterol, that's a good thing, and it thins the blood, which makes it less likely to clog and start a heart attack.
So the bottom line here -- drinking in moderation, one or two drinks is a good idea. Much more than that, especially more than five is not such a great idea -- Bill
HEMMER: As you point out, there are other ways to do this. You could thin your blood essentially by taking the baby Aspirin that's been talked about?
COHEN: Exactly. That's not something you want to do until you talk to your doctor. There might be other risks involved in doing that. The drinking a day hypothesis, doctors really seem to agree on this. Again, one on two drinks a day. One drink for women, two drinks for men.
Now it's interesting, when people start having three or four drinks a day, it doesn't seem to do anything for them. It doesn't seem to help or hurt them. So three or four a day doesn't really do anything. Five or more is where you start getting into trouble.
HEMMER: Thanks, Elizabeth, appreciate it, Elizabeth Cohen at the CNN Center.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
