BOOZING is better for your health than going tee-total, experts claim.
Two pints of beer a day can help you control cholesterol levels – protecting against heart attack and stroke.
A new study showed moderate drinking was linked to slower declines in "good" cholesterol (HDL) – the type that protects the heart.
When levels of "bad" cholesterol are too high in the blood, it builds up in the walls of the arteries, clogging them and causing a condition called atherosclerosis.
This causes the arteries to narrow, slowing blood flow to the heart.
If the blood flow is completely blocked, oxygen can't reach it and the result is a heart attack.
"Good" cholesterol works to protect against this process – helping to clear "bad" cholesterol from the blood.
Therefore, by slowing the decline of "good" cholesterol, moderate drinking helps to ensure there are adequate levels of protective cholesterol in the bloodstream.
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New Government guidelines recommends that both men and women should not drink more than 14 units of booze a week – that's the equivalent of six pints.
The past limits, revised in January, advised a limit of 21 units of men and 14 for women each week.
Researchers examined 80,000 healthy Chinese adults, watching their alcohol consumption and "good" cholesterol levels over a period of more than six years.
They divided the drinkers into categories from tee-totalers to heavy drinkers, defined as more than one alcoholic drink a day for women and more than two for men.
The researchers found "good" cholesterol levels fell over time in all those taking part.
But, in the moderate drinkers the fall was slower, compared to non-drinkers and heavy boozers.
Moderate drinkers – defined as men drinking one to two drinks a day, and women enjoying half to one serving – had the slowest decline in "good" cholesterol.
HOW DOES CHOLESTEROL AFFECT YOUR HEART?
When levels of “bad” cholesterol are too high in the blood, it builds up in the walls of the arteries, clogging them and causing a condition called atherosclerosis.
This causes the arteries to narrow, slowing blood flow to the heart.
If the blood flow is completely blocked, oxygen can’t reach it and the result is a heart attack.
“Good” cholesterol works to protect against this process – helping to clear “bad” cholesterol from the blood.
Therefore, by slowing the decline of “good” cholesterol, moderate drinking helps to ensure there are adequate levels of protective cholesterol in the bloodstream.
The researchers also looked at whether specific types of alcohol made a difference.
They found beer drinkers reaped the greatest benefit, but were not able to test wine's effect due to there being too few wine drinkers in their study group.
The researchers said more studies are needed to establish if this effect is seen in other populations, such as Americans, and whether the type of alcohol is crucial.
The findings were presented at a meeting of the American Heart Association.
They come as another study reveals more than half of Brits are unaware boozing can give them cancer.
The World Cancer Research Fund said today 21,000 cases of cancer could be prevented each year if the UK went tee-total.
Booze raises the risk of tumours in the bowel, breast, liver, mouth, throat and stomach, and is the biggest cause of the disease besides smoking and obesity.
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