Heart Patients Who Kept Drinking Moderately Saw Health Benefits

Having a heart attack may not mean you need to quit drinking alcohol: in fact, a new study concludes that moderate drinkers who continued their typical alcohol consumption after having a heart attack tended to fare better than those who abstained.

Reuters reported May 5 that a study of 325 moderate drinkers found that those who kept drinking had better physical function in the years after their heart attack, measured as the ability to perform tasks like climbing stairs and carrying groceries. “This study suggests that, unless their doctors tell them not to, they can continue to drink and feel good about it,” said researcher James H. O’Keefe of the Mid America Heart Institute of St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo.

Researchers found that 84 percent of the study group kept drinking moderately after their heart attack, while 16 percent quit.

The study was published online in the American Journal of Cardiology.