A study of more than 80,000 women found that low to moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a 17% to 21% reduction in the risk of stroke.
Compared with women who didn’t drink, the relative risk of stroke ranged from 0.83 for drinking less than 5 grams per day to 0.79 for those who consumed up to 15 grams.
The benefit was the same for ischemic stroke the Journal of the American Heart Association reported.
Kathryn Rexrode, a Medical Doctor in Brigham Women’s Hospital in Boston and her colleagues found that previous associations had been seen with light to moderate drinking and reduced stroke risk. However, they said that many studies did not take into account the stroke type, nor did they break down drinking according to the amount.
The findings emerged from a study of 83,570 women aged from thirty to fifty five who were enrolled in the nurse’s health study.
Those who drank between two glasses daily had a decreased risk of total stroke. The heaviest drinkers-three glasses per day- had an increased total and ischemic stroke risk but a slightly decreased risk for hemorrhagic stroke.
Researchers however did not find any significant differences when data was stratified by age, hypertension, aspirin usage, hormone therapy or smoking.
