Ruminations: Alcohol? Nope. Sorry About That!

"Even modest habitual alcohol intake of 1.2 drinks/day was associated with an increased risk of atrial fibrilation [irregular heartbeat]."
"Alcohol consumption at lower doses [was associated with lower overall instances of heart failure]."
"Due to large sample size, we had power to detect associations even at low doses of daily alcohol intake."
"The level of consumption that minimizes health loss is zero."
European study -- European Health Journal

Just one drink a day leads to health risks Getty Images

Sometimes assurances that seem too good to be true are quite simply that, in the end -- too good to be true. People enjoy relaxing with alcohol at the end of the day, or to pick up a meal, or to celebrate, or to share with friends. Alcohol is seen as obligatory at social events. And for years we've been reading that health experts have been assuring the imbibing public that drinks in moderation are good for health. That red wine in particular boosts heart health when taken in modest amounts.

Health Canada, as an example goes so far as to recommend a maximum of ten drinks weekly for women and 15 drinks every week for men, as an acknowledgement that people will indulge, and it would be best for a national health authority not to exactly admonish the public for their pleasurable habits, but to help them to understand that in the interests of overall health, moderation is the key to good balance and to good health.

And then suddenly, it's all wrong. The long-standing assurance that a glass of wine daily is heart-healthy is not supported by a new European study that concludes even a discreet number of alcoholic drinks over the course of a day, a week, can lead to heart problems. That lower overall instances of heart failure can be identified with decreased alcohol consumption.

The study was thorough in its examination of medical histories of over 100,000 people, to find that the risk of irregular heartbeat and other cardiovascular incidents increased whenever alcohol was introduced in any quantity. Just one drink a day raises the risk of developing heart arrhythmia by 16 percent. "Strong controversy" over the link between moderate drinking and adverse heart health is a reality, the report cautions, adding that most public health agencies tend to avoid recommending total abstinence from alcohol.

A glass of red wine a day is not healthy, say researchers Getty Images

A growing body of evidence indicating even small amounts of alcohol can have negative human health effects is growing. Worldwide attention was focused on a 2018 report published in The Lancet which claimed any amount of alcohol was unhealthy. That report resulted from researchers going through close to 600 studies for data from 195 countries which concluded "the level of consumption that minimizes health loss is zero".

British statistician David Spiegelhalter responded to that mega-analysis by a scathing critique that included: "There is no safe level of driving, but governments do not recommend that people avoid driving. Come to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention." The irony is that medical science has expressed confidence in the link between heavy drinking and cardiovascular complications, but the dangers of casual drinking impacting heart health only began to be seriously considered when "holiday heart syndrome" that emerged in the late 1970s, gave a heads-up warning.

That was when it was noticed with alarm that otherwise healthy people went through an unexpected, short-lived health crisis when they were struck with irregular heartbeats following about of alcohol-infused partying.