Jury is still out on wine's effect on irregular heartbeat

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-07-28 07:00

Australia; SA

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Drinking small quantities of wine could reduce the risk of irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation), according to Aussie researchers. However, an accompanying editorial indicates that this finding needs further research because similar studies have found the opposite result - that even small amounts of wine consumption increase the risk of irregular heartbeat. The Aussie study of over 400,000 predominantly white middle-aged people assessed the risk of irregular heartbeat with the amount of alcohol consumed per week, finding that those who consumed very small quantities of wine had a lower risk, while any amount of beer or cider consumption resulted in a higher risk of irregular heartbeat.