For alcoholics who suffer from alcohol-related heart failure, cutting back alcohol consumption to a few drinks a day does not cause any further damage. In fact, the heart may actually begin to recover strength, report US researchers this week.
In a combined Spanish/United States study, researchers from the Jefferson Medical College and the University of Barcelona measured the heart-pumping efficiency of a group of men who were alcoholics and were suffering from heart failure.
They found that those who abstained from alcohol over a year had significant improvement in heart function. But they were surprised to find that those who drank moderately, from one to four drinks a day, also improved to the same degree.
"We're not advocating anyone with heart failure continue to drink," said Emanuel Rubin, who led the study. "We're saying that for those individuals with heart failure who cannot stop drinking, several drinks a day may not do any more harm and even allow their heart's pumping efficiency to regain strength."
In addition, researchers say they may have discovered a so-called threshold drinking level for alcohol-related heart damage. According to Dr Rubin, a long-standing - and unresolved - controversy exists among those who treat alcoholics. Many claim that total abstinence from alcohol is the only solution to treat alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis, cardiomyopathy and pancreatitis. Others, he said, believe that so-called moderate drinking - two to four drinks a day - may be alright.
In the study, Dr Rubin looked at 55 alcoholic men living in Barcelona, Spain, who suffered from heart failure. They examined over four years several measures of various heart functions, such as "ejection fraction," which gauges the heart's ability to pump blood.
All of the men were counselled to completely give up alcohol, Dr Rubin explained. In the study, approximately one-third did become abstinent, while another third continued to drink their usual amounts. But the other third reported that they reduced their drinking to between one and four "standard" drinks a day. A standard drink is defined as equivalent to 1.5 ounces of 43% abv whisky, 12 ounces of beer or 4 to 5 ounces of wine.
The researchers were surprised by what they found. After one year, those who stopped drinking all showed an increased ability to pump blood out of their heart. The researchers were surprised to find that those who had a few drinks a day also showed similarly improved heart-pumping ability.
"The take-home message is that alcohol-related damage to the heart appears to be a 'threshold phenomenon,'" commented Dr Rubin. Below a certain level of alcohol intake, he explained, "there seems to be no damage to the heart".
Dr Rubin speculated that other organs may have similar alcohol damage thresholds, but they would be difficult to measure.
"We have an advantage in studying the heart - it can be studied quantitatively. It would be much more difficult to measure such changes in the liver or pancreas," he said.
Dr Rubin stressed that the best way to avoid alcohol-related heart damage is to give up drinking completely.
"But for some who will only reduce their drinking, we can say now that moderate drinking does not increase the harm to the heart," he added.
Full findings are published in the 5 February issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.