Alcohol may increase the risk of strokes

A new study looking at Chinese drinkers claims that consuming alcohol does not increase your risk of heart attacks but does not protect people from strokes as previously thought.

About 100,000 people a year in the UK suffer from strokes and studies had shown that moderate consumption of alcohol may have decreased your risk of a stroke. However, researchers looking at a specific group of Chinese, found that alcohol may increase the chance of stroke. 1-2 drinks a day increases your risk of having a stroke from 0.15% to 0.17% or as the medical people like to say, between a 10-15% increase in the chance of a stroke. Drinking above government guidelines of 4 units a day increase your risk of a stroke from 0.15% to 0.21% which is a 35% increase.

The research has several limitations. It is based on the Chinese population, not typical Westerners, and the alcohol consumed was mostly spirits and beer. Wine, and red wine in particular, has anti-oxidative effects that were not examined.