Bier & Gezondheid http://www.bierengezondheid.be/index.php/articles/en/cid=3/aid=2385/ SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH alcohol and mind 15/06/2006 Stress, strokes and alcohol A recent Danish study suggests that moderate alcohol consumption is not equally efficacious for one and all to reduce the risk of a stroke. Stressed-out men and women seem to stand to benefit most. The study involved more than 12 000 men and women who provided information regarding their weekly alcohol consumption and their subjectively-perceived stress levels. They were tracked for 15 years. Some 880 participants suffered a first stroke during that period. The results of the study appear to indicate that a weekly intake of 1 to 14 12 g units of alcohol may be associated with a reduced risk of heart attack compared with that for total abstainers. The effect is clearest in the case of ischaemia (localized tissue anaemia due to obstruction of inflow of arterial blood), but was not clear for individuals with low stress threshold. That is why regular drinking may be a factor in the risk of stroke by potentiating the physiological or psychological reaction to stress. It is not possible to establish a similar correlation between cerebral haemorrhage and stress because there was an insufficient number of subjects for statistical purposes.. The Quarterly Review of Alcohol Research, Vol. 13, No. 4