How to live longer is a question many people are desperate to know the answer to. Not smoking and keeping active are two ways proven to increase life expectancy. Eating a healthy, balanced diet has also been found to be key, and this usually means cutting down on alcohol. But new research has suggested that heart failure patients could benefit from drinking moderately.
Heart failure is when the heart is unable to pump blood around the body properly, but this doesn’t mean the heart has stopped working.
While UK guidelines suggests excessive alcohol consumption should be avoided, the US study found the contrary.
Professor David Brown, of Washington University in St Louis, said of the findings: “My patients who are newly diagnosed with heart failure often ask me if they should stop having that glass of wine every night. And until now, I didn’t have a good answer for them.
“We have long known that the toxic effects of excessive drinking can contribute to heart failure.
“In contrast, we have data showing that healthy people who drink moderately seem to have some protection from heart failure over the long term, compared with people who don’t drink at all.”
But Professor Brown also noted that little if any data exists to be able to advise people with heart failure to drink moderately.
He said the study showed a “survival benefit” for moderate drinkers compared with those who didn’t drink alcohol.
As part of the findings the researchers found an association between drinking seven or fewer drinks each week and an extended survival or just over one year, compared to those who abstained from drinking long-term.
While more research is needed to establish whether drinking moderately holds definite health benefits, a new diet ranking revealed the number one diet you should be following to dd years onto your life.
Rankings release last week from U.S. News and World Report revealed the Mediterranean diet as the diet people should follow this year.
The diet consists of vegetables, such as tomatoes and avocados, fruits, such as grapes and figs, beans, lentils and chickpeas, oily fish and shellfish, nuts, olive oil, herbs and garlic.
As well as being a more plant-based diet, which has been proven to boost longevity, the rankings also list Mediterranean as the best for overall health eating and the easiest to follow.
Angela Haupt, assistant managing editor of health at U.S. News, said: “It’s really health, balanced (and) considered nutritionally complete.”
Last year, the Mediterranean diet shared top place with the DASH diet, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
This diet was a US government-based plan which aimed to help people lower their blood pressure.
This year though, Haupt said research available which tied the Mediterranean diet to longer, healthier living propelled it to the top.