A new study is shedding light on the amount of cocktails women have in a day on average, and their risk of developing heart disease. A study by Kaiser Permanente Northern California looked at data from more than 430,000 people over a four-year span. It found that women who have more than one alcoholic drink per day are more likely to be diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity.
Anne Kramer: Joining us now is CBS News Medical contributor, Dr. Celine Gounder. Dr. Gounder. Good to have you back on. We have been hearing all sorts of things for many years about some of the alcohol that we may be drinking could be good for our hearts. So how does this challenge that thought process?
CBS News Medical contributor, Dr. Celine Gounder: Well, this study shows that women, in particular, who either drink heavily or binge drink are at increased risk for heart disease, like coronary artery disease, which can lead to a heart attack, but also other heart conditions like abnormal heart rhythms and enlargement of the heart.
Shawn Anderson: Why are women at a higher risk for here than men?
Dr. Celine Gounder: The biggest factor is that women are just smaller, smaller in size and so metabolize differently. There are also other factors at play, but size is probably the biggest factor here.
Anne Kramer: Dr. Gounder, we get almost (deluged) with so much information when it comes to: Should we have a drink? Should we not have a drink? What would be the good course of action then to make sure you’re still healthy, but you might want to have a glass of wine with dinner or with friends? What’s the key focus here?
Dr. Celine Gounder: Well, I think it’s helpful to just re-emphasize the definition that we’re using here. So, in this study, they defined heavy drinking as eight or more drinks per week among women — so, an average of one or more a day. And binge drinking as three or more drinks among women in a single day in the last three months. And so that’s a lower level of drinking that I think people think is risky. And so, one of the messages here is, unfortunately, there is no level of alcohol use that we can deem safe. That said, you know, exercising some judgment, moderation in how you consume. You know, I think it’s unrealistic to say that everybody’s going to quit drinking given this information.
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