Does alcohol in any way benefit the coronary arteries?
Finally, we come to the possible benefits of alcohol on the coronary arteries. It was formerly thought that alcohol was beneficial in dilating the coronary arteries and that all patients with heart disease should drink alcohol regularly. Many patients found from experience that they had less heart pain, as from angina, if they took alcohol before and during meals and in between, as often as feasible. Repeated and recent research has found that these results (from drinking moderate amounts of alcoholic beverages) in relieving chest pains due to heart conditions such as coronary artery disease, are not due to any improvement or dilation in the coronary circulation of the heart. The relief and improvement in pain was found to be due to two things: 1) the analgesic or “narcotic” pain-alleviating effect of alcohol which raises the threshold at which pain is felt, and 2) the ability of alcohol to allay worry and anxiety and induce psychic as well as physical relaxation. This also tends to ra
