No amount of alcohol is considered heart healthy

In January 2022, the World Heart Federation released a statement warning that even small amounts of alcohol can increase a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease, including coronary disease, stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, and aneurysm. This contradicts the widespread misconception – perpetuated by the alcohol industry – that alcohol is good for heart health.

Due to improvements in alcohol research, we now know that drinking any amount of alcohol is harmful to our health.  In the past, gathering accurate information about alcohol use was challenging. Many alcohol studies relied on self-reported data which can often be inaccurate. These days there are larger studies and better approaches to controlling for factors such as age, gender, and income, which reduce study biases, and- improve the quality of the research.

To improve your heart health the World Health Organization encourages eating a healthy diet, including a variety of fruits, vegetables, wholegrain foods, and legumes, and being physically active.

This World Heart Federation statement is important advice as there is convincing evidence that drinking any type of alcohol increases your risk of seven types of cancer including bowel, breast, mouth, throat, oesophagus, stomach and liver.

Even drinking small amounts of alcohol increases your risk of cancer. If you choose to drink, we recommend you follow the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines and limit your intake to no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 standard drinks on any day.