(NewsNation) — A new study from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) found there can be positive effects of alcohol consumption.
Alcohol in “light to moderate doses” — defined as one drink per day for women and 1-2 for men — decreased stress signals to the brain and a greater link between occasional alcohol consumption and greater cardiovascular health.
Moreover, the reduction in stress signals was noted as a long-term effect of light-to-moderate alcohol intake.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, involved 53,064 participants; 23,920 had little to no alcohol consumption, while 27,053 had light to moderate intake.
Light to moderate drinking was associated with a decrease in “adverse cardiovascular effects.” Median follow-ups occurred at 3.4 years.
However, the study found even the smallest consumption of alcohol increased the risk of cancer. Having more than 14 drinks in a week increased the possibility of a heart attack and decreased brain activity.
“We are not advocating the use of alcohol to reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes because of other concerning effects of alcohol on health,” Ahmed Tawakol MD., co-director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center at MGH.
“We wanted to understand how light to moderate drinking reduces cardiovascular disease, as demonstrated by multiple other studies.
“We found that the brain changes in light to moderate drinkers explained a significant portion of the protective cardiac effects,” Tawakol added.