Combining exercise with moderate alcohol consumption may help in the fight against heart disease, a new study suggests.
In the study, people who both exercised and drank moderately had a 50 percent decrease in their risk for heart disease. Those who just exercised had a 30 percent decreased risk, the same as non-exercisers who drank moderately -- meaning that the exercise and alcohol essentially had the same effect on the heart.
But before popping a post-workout bottle of bubbly, students should be warned that there is no proof of cardiovascular protection before the age of 45.
"There is absolutely no proof of a preventative effect before age 45," said Jill Garrigan, a fitness coordinator. "Twenty-year-olds might be thinking it's really cool, but the results were all done on older people."
The study, published in the European Heart Journal and performed by Dr. Morten Gronbaek and colleagues at Denmark's National Institute of Public Health, surveyed 12,000 people older than 20. Twenty years of follow-up revealed that both exercise and drinking had heart health benefits and an increased result when combined.
"People who had high overall mortality were inactive and were high alcohol consumers," said Stephen Cyran, professor of pediatrics and chief of pediatric cardiology at Penn State Children's Hospital. "This is not a license to go out and get toasted regularly."
Both alcohol and exercise help increase the amount of High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) in the arteries.
"There's bad cholesterol, LDL, and good cholesterol, HDL," Cyran said. "High-density cholesterol acts as a scrubber and goes up and removes the cholesterol from these [cardiovascular] walls. Exercise improves levels of HDL cholesterol. It's very well documented."
Of course, alcoholic beverages still have calories.
The study defined one drink as one bottle of beer, one glass of wine or one unit of spirit. Moderate drinkers were classified as those having 1 to 14 drinks per week.
"Many people in this country at least exercise for weight maintenance, so the glass of wine certainly has calories," Garrigan said. "I question whether a 10-ounce apple juice or a 10-ounce serving of mango juice would be better."
People who don't drink or exercise had the highest risk for heart disease.
"Things in moderation seem to have the most benefit," Cyran said. "There are people who run marathons who die from heart-related problems."
Moderate exercise was considered as more than four hours per week of light physical activity or two to four hours of more rigorous exercise per week.
Some aspects of exercise, such as maintaining body weight and bone health, cannot be attained by only drinking alcohol, said Chip Harrison, Penn State's head strength and conditioning coach.
"It's one of those conclusions that I think you have to sort of take caution with," he said. "There are benefits outside of the cardiovascular system that you work [with exercise]. You can't make those comparisons just from drinking alcohol."
