2 Drinks Daily May up Irregular Heartbeat Risk

Even moderate alcohol consumption could increase the risk of irregular heart rhythm condition, warn researchers.

Even moderate alcohol consumption, described as intake of two drinks daily or 14 per week, could increase the risk of irregular heart rhythm condition, warn researchers.

The team from the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, found that regular moderate alcohol consumption (an average of 14 glasses per week) results in more electrical evidence of scarring and impairment in electrical signalling compared with non-drinkers and light drinkers.

Alcohol consumption is therefore an important modifiable risk factor for atrial fibrillation - an abnormal heart rhythm characterised by rapid and irregular beating of atria - upper chamber of the heart, the researchers said.