有心臟病或有心臟病家族史的人，應該經常喝點小酒，但是，對老年人似乎無明顯效果

Alcohol heart protection may not be down to inflammatory markers in the elder men but true for the younger people.

25/07/2006 - A new study indicates that light to moderate alcohol drinking may exert cardioprotective effects in some, but in elderly men at least the mechanism of action does not seem to be down to a reduction in inflammatory markers as previously thought.

Although alcohol has been implicated in worsening some other chronic diseases and the overall effect of drinking on survival is not clear, some studies have shown that light to moderate drinking may reduce the risk of heart disease. The effect was thought to be somehow connected with inflammation, since reduction in levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 circulating in the blood were seen to drop.

But the current study, which the researchers claim is the first with the specific aim of investigating the impact of inflammation on the relationship between alcohol consumption and health-related outcomes, found that these markers did not seem to be linked to heart disease incidence. This leads to the suspicion that some other, as yet unidentified mechanism may be at play.