Scientists: so many glasses of alcohol per day increase the risk of a stroke

A few glasses of wine with dinner may seem harmless, but appearances can be deceiving. Harvard researchers have discovered that three glasses of alcohol a day significantly increases the risk of stroke—even in otherwise healthy people.

Experts have been puzzled for several years: the number of strokes among otherwise healthy people is rising sharply , but a cause has not yet been found. However, Harvard researchers now have evidence suggesting that heavy drinking—meaning regularly consuming three or more alcoholic drinks per day—could be partly to blame. A study of 1,600 people who had suffered a stroke found that heavy drinkers suffered more severe strokes 11 years earlier than non-heavy drinkers.

The 1,600 patients had an average age of 75, and information about their alcohol consumption was provided during their hospitalization. Of the 1,600 patients, 104 met the criteria for heavy alcohol consumption—equivalent to three or more alcoholic drinks per day. The participants underwent a series of brain scans to assess the severity of their stroke and to look for signs of long-term damage.

The researchers found that heavy drinkers suffered a stroke, on average, around age 64, while non-heavy drinkers suffered a stroke much later, at age 75. The brain hemorrhages in heavy drinkers were also much more severe, approximately 70 percent larger than those in non-heavy drinkers.

Daily drinkers were found to be twice as likely to have a deep brain hemorrhage and a higher risk of cerebral small vessel disease, a condition in which the small blood vessels in the brain become damaged, which can lead to cognitive problems, brain hemorrhages, and vascular dementia. According to Dr. Edip Gurol, a neurologist at Harvard University specializing in stroke, the findings underscore the importance of moderate alcohol consumption.

"Intracerebral hemorrhage is the deadliest form of stroke, with cerebral small vessel disease as the leading cause," he explains. "While heavy drinking has been linked to an increased risk of stroke in previous studies, our findings suggest that it not only increases the severity of a hemorrhagic stroke but may also accelerate long-term damage to the small blood vessels in the brain."

These are the most read articles at the moment: