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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Older Women Find Little Leeway on Drinking Alcohol
Narrow gap
from healthful to harmful - Harvard
Women's Heart Watch
June 23, 2006 - Various studies suggest that
moderate drinking helps prevent cardiovascular disease and lowers the
risk for dementia. What hasn't made the headlines are the downsides of
alcohol for women. The July issue of Harvard Women's Health Watch
reports on the risks of alcohol, and why women, especially older women,
are particularly vulnerable to them.
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Heart Disease Risk Lowered for Men by Drinking
Daily, Women Once a Week
Beneficial effect probably confined to middle
aged or older people
May 26, 2006 - Men who drink alcohol every day have a lower risk
of heart disease than those who drink less frequently, suggests research
in this week’s BMJ. The same is not true for women. But, women who
drank alcohol on at least one day a week had a lower risk of coronary
heart disease than women who drank alcohol on less than one day a week.
The authors noted "the beneficial effect of alcohol is probably confined
to middle aged or older people."
Read more...
Read more
on
Health & Medicine |
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There is solid evidence for benefits from moderate
drinking. For example, studies have shown that one drink per day,
compared with no drinking at all, can reduce a woman's risk for heart
disease and stroke by as much as 50%. Other research suggests that older
women who drink moderately have better cognitive skills.
But there are also risks. Even as little as
one-half drink per day increases the risk for breast cancer, possibly
because alcohol raises estrogen blood levels, which can promote the
growth of breast tumors. Women are also quicker than men to become
dependent on alcohol and to suffer the consequences, including damage to
the brain and other organs, psychiatric problems, and accidents. One in
13 adults in the United States has a serious alcohol problem, and at
least six million of them are women.
Women are more sensitive to alcohol than men are
because their bodies contain less water and more fatty tissue. Water
dilutes alcohol in the bloodstream; fat retains it. So women's brains
and other organs are exposed to higher concentrations of alcohol for
longer periods of time. The risk increases with age.
Given the benefits and risks of alcohol, the
Harvard Women's Health Watch suggests that women 65 and over should be
especially careful to limit themselves to one drink per day -- or less.
Also in this issue:
● Recognizing celiac disease
● Microwaving food in plastic
● Pacemakers and mammograms
● A doctor answers: Pomegranate juice and medications; long-term use
of Prilosec.
Harvard Women's Health Watch is available from
Harvard Health Publications, the publishing division of Harvard Medical
School, for $24 per year. Subscribe at
http://www.health.harvard.edu/women or by calling 1-877-649-9457
(toll free).
Source: Harvard Women's Health Watch
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