If you know that you are at risk for having a stroke, you might want to avoid drinking alcohol altogether. Research shows that the risk of having a stroke increases dramatically within the first hour after you drink an alcohol beverage.And, the researchers say, it doesn't matter if it's beer, wine or hard liquor, the risk increases.
A study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, surveyed 390 ischemic stroke patients about their alcohol consumption leading up to their stroke. An ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot in a vessel in or leading to the brain.
The researchers at the Harvard Medical School found that the risk of stroke after alcohol consumption was 2.3 ties higher in the first hour after taking a drink compared to the risk of stroke when no alcohol was being used.
The risk of having a stroke in the second hour after drinking remained 1.6 times higher.
Is Moderate Drinking Beneficial?
However, the same study found that 24 hours after drinking one drink, the risk of having a stroke was 30 percent lower compared to times when no alcohol at all was consumed. This finding creates a dilemma for the authors of the study.
"The evidence on heavy drinking is consistent: Both in the long and short term it raises stroke risk," lead author Murray A. Mittleman, M.D. said in a news release. "But we're finding it's more complicated with light to moderate drinking. It is possible that the transiently increased stroke risk from moderate alcohol consumption may be outweighed by the longer term health benefits."
"At this point we don't have enough evidence to say that people who don't drink should start, or that people who drink small amounts -- on the order of one drink a day -- should stop," Mittleman said.
The bottom line seems to be that moderate alcohol consumption (one drink a day for women, two for men) may be beneficial to your health - if it doesn't kill you first.
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