Wine Keeps Women's Heartbeats Healthy

Feb. 14, 2005 -- Drinking wine may help women fight heart disease by keeping their hearts beating to a healthy rhythm.

Although many studies have shown that drinking wine can reduce the risk of heart disease, researchers are still trying to figure out how wine does that.

In this study, researchers found that women with heart disease who drank wine had increased heart rate variability, which is a marker of the changes in time intervals between heartbeats. Decreased heart rate variability has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and death.

Researchers say together with wine's healthy effect on cholesterol levels, this effect on heart rate variability may be another reason why drinking wine reduces the risk of heart disease and heart-related death.

Wine Better Than Beer?

In the study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Heart, researchers studied 102 women under age 75 who had survived a heart attack or heart surgery to clear blocked arteries. During their recovery period, the participants were asked to record how much and what kind of alcohol they drank.

One year later, researchers used a heart monitor to measure the women's heart activity over a 24-hour period as they went through their normal daily activities.

The study showed that heart rate variability was highest among women who drank at least half a glass of wine per day and lowest among women who drank no alcohol at all.

Researchers also found drinking beer or liquor didn't significantly affect heart rate variability.

The study showed that wine's beneficial effects on heart rate variability remained significant even after accounting for other risk factors associated with heart disease, such as age, weight, and smoking.