Total abstinence does not seem to be the way to a long life. A new research published in the "American Journal of Medicine" shows that indeed drinkers prolong their lives and chase away the danger of heart disease. Those who began drinking in middle age were 38% less likely to undergo a heart attack or other severe heart issues, compared to abstainers, even when overweight, diabetes, high blood pressure and other heart risks were taken into consideration.

Light to moderate drinkers have been shown to be healthier compared to abstinent persons by many researches, but specialists said that the abstinent should not begin drinking because of this. The new research shows the opposite.

The team followed the medical records of 7,697 subjects aged 45 and 64, who were non-drinkers when the investigation started. During 10 years, 6% of them started drinking, due to personal reasons (they were not asked by researchers to do so).
"Over the next four years we tracked the new drinkers and when we compared them to the persistent non-drinkers, there was a 38% drop in new cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher Dr. Dana King of the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston.

The results stood even when the team took into consideration risk factors for the heart health, like smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, race, education levels, exercise and cholesterol.

"Several of the volunteers had more than one risk factor and still benefited from adding alcohol. Fewer than 1 % of people in the study drank more than is recommended," said King.

The recommended quantities of consumed alcohol are 1-2 daily drinks.

"Half of them were wine drinkers only. There was a much bigger benefit for wine-only drinkers. But the findings do not mean people should drink freely," added King.

Another new research made at the National Institutes of Health shows that how much and how often people drink impacts their risk of death.

Their research made on 44,000 subjects showed that men drinking five or more drinks on occasions were 30% more exposed to heart attack or stroke than men who drank daily, no matter the daily number of drinks. The study published in the journal "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research" shows that regular, moderate drinking is more recommended than the occasional binge.

Even men drinking moderately and daily were 20% less likely to experience a heart attack compared to those drinking just one to 36 days per year.