Less Alcohol Means More Protection

Alcohol is one of those foods that can help or hurt the heart: it all depends on the amount typically consumed. Especially for women, a small amount of alcohol helps protect against heart disease, while larger amounts damage the heart.

Women who are heavy drinkers, according to a recent study, were four times more likely to die from heart disease and two times as likely to die from stroke compared to nondrinkers. That sends a powerful message that more is not better when it comes to alcohol and heart disease.  

Here’s another reason not to drink alcohol if you have heart disease—heart medications and alcohol just don’t mix. 

Drinking alcohol can mess with your medication, and your medication can mess with the way your body handles alcohol. Five percent of adults in a recent study drank regularly enough to be at high risk for drug interactions, including an increased risk of adverse effects and reduced effectiveness of the drug. Some drugs can also intensify the intoxicating effect of alcohol.

Either way, this is something you need to know about. Some medications typically prescribed for people with heart disease are directly affected by alcohol, so it’s a good idea not to take any of them within one or two hours of imbibing.

The list of prescribed medications is always changing, so definitely make a point of asking your doctor if alcohol can interact dangerously with any of the medications you are taking—and double check labels and the drug information sheets that now come with all medications.