Extra booze won’t hurt the heart

There’s no denying it – a little alcohol can help protect the heart.

But what if you could drink even more than “a little”… like a whole bottle of wine every day… and still get those benefits? The latest research shows you can, and get away with it – at least as far as your heart’s concerned.

Spanish researchers have found that booze’s benefits kick in at somewhere between roughly a quarter of a glass of wine and a full glass of wine each day, or the equivalent alcohol in other drinks. That initial amount, they say, can lower the risk of heart attack and stroke by 50 percent in men.

Women seemed to get a similar benefit – but since even the women in the study who didn’t drink rarely suffered from heart attacks, it’s harder to draw conclusions about them.

The researchers also found that you can drink more than that first glass – a lot more – and still have a healthy heart. The study, published in the journal Heart, found that men can drink up to a full bottle a day and still enjoy that 50 percent decreased risk of heart attack and stroke.

That’s a lot of booze.

What’s more, it doesn’t have to be wine – liquor and beer are fine, too. If it’s an alcoholic drink, it can probably help your heart.

But before you rush out to polish off that bottle, I don’t think the idea here is to drink to the max every night. You’re setting yourself up for some other problems if you do.

At the same time, take this study as evidence that you have a little flexibility when it comes to how much you drink. Just look at the Spanish – few can match their appetite for wine, yet they have one of the lowest rates of heart disease deaths in the world.

Maybe we can learn something from them – but remember, booze alone isn’t the answer. The Spanish, for example, also have a much lower obesity rate than us – and that, in the end, will count far more than whether or not you drink a glass of wine every day.