Wine Does the Heart Good

If women are going to drink alcoholicbeverages, wine is the best for keepingtheir heart healthy. The current study,reported recently in Heart, focused onwomen because a majority of theresearch on alcohol's health benefitslooked at men. The study included 102women, under age 75, who had surviveda heart attack or heart surgery for blockedarteries.

During the study, the participants wererequired to log their alcohol intake for 1week. The researchers conducted heartstudies to determine heart rate variability(HRV). The results of the study showedthat HRV was highest in women whodrank 5 g or more of alcohol daily and lowestin women who drank no alcohol. HRVwas also higher among women who drankwine, even after factoring in age, weight,and smoking habits.