Drinking champagne could reduce risk of sudden cardiac arrest, study suggests
Drinking champagne, eating more fruit, staying slim and maintaining a positive outlook on life could help reduce the risk of a sudden cardiac arrest, the world's first study of its kind suggests.
Millions of people worldwide die every year after experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), when the heart stops pumping blood around the body without warning. They are caused by a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, when the electrical system in the heart is not working properly. Without immediate treatment such as CPR, those affected will die.
The study identified 56 non-clinical risk factors associated with SCA, spanning lifestyle, physical measures, psychosocial factors, socioeconomic status and the local environment. It found compelling evidence that addressing these things could prevent a large number of cases.
Researchers found that factors such as higher consumption of champagne and white wine, increased fruit intake, along with maintaining a positive mood, weight management, blood pressure control and improved education, may serve as important protective factors. They concluded that between 40% and 63% of sudden cardiac arrest cases could be avoidable when looking at all 56 risk factors. Their findings were published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
The study's co-investigator Renjie Chen of Fudan University in Shanghai said: 'To our knowledge, this is the first study that comprehensively investigated the associations between non-clinical modifiable risk factors and SCA incidence. We were surprised by the large proportion (40%-63%) of SCA cases that could be prevented by improving unfavourable profiles.'
Researchers studied more than 500,000 people using data from the UK Biobank. Of those tracked, 3,147 people suffered SCAs during a typical follow-up period of 14 years.
The study's lead investigator, Huihuan Luo, also from Fudan University, said: 'All previous studies investigating the risk factors of SCA were hypothesis-driven and focused on a limited number of candidate exposure factors grounded in prior knowledge or theoretical frameworks.
'We conducted an exposome-wide association study, which examines the relationship between a wide range of environmental exposures and health outcomes using UK Biobank data, followed by Mendelian randomisation to assess causal relationships.
'The study found significant associations between various modifiable factors and SCA, with lifestyle changes being the most impactful in preventing cases.'
Eliminating the worst third of the 56 risk factors suggested 40% of SCA cases could be prevented, according to the study. This increased to 63% SCA prevention if the worst two-thirds of the risk factors were eliminated.
In a linked editorial, Nicholas Grubic from the University of Toronto in Canada, and Dakota Gustafson from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, said: 'One of the study's most intriguing findings is the cardioprotective effect associated with champagne and white wine consumption, questioning long-held assumptions about the specificity of red wine's cardioprotective properties.
Sign up to First Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
'Research on the underlying mechanisms remains unclear, but these findings reinforce the idea that the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption may be more complex than previously assumed.'
The suggestion that champagne and white wine may be helpful also conflict with existing advice.
The British Heart Foundation says lifestyle changes can reduce the risk of SCAs. These include cutting down on alcohol, quitting smoking, eating a healthy diet, taking medications and following treatments from your doctor, as well as being physically active.
To reduce the 'immense burden' SCAs put on health systems, population-wide strategies that prioritise prevention are required, Grubic and Gustafson wrote. But while shifting from responding to SCAs to preventing them may seem straightforward, doing so would be far more complex in practice, they said.
They said: 'The multifactorial nature of these events – often influenced by a combination of genetic predispositions, underlying cardiovascular conditions, environmental triggers, and lifestyle factors – poses significant challenges for healthcare professionals and policymakers.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
11 hours ago
- Telegraph
Your ‘five-a-day' now includes chocolate... and wine
For those people who find cramming in five portions of fruit and veg a day about as appealing as limp lettuce, scientists have good news: now you can count red wine and dark chocolate. A new five-a-day diet including tea, apples, oranges and berries – all foods rich in chemicals called flavonoids - will help people to live longer, a study has found. Flavonoids have a range of benefits, including lowering high blood pressure and dampening inflammation. Scientists have long known them to be good for health, but the new study is the first to investigate the benefits of a diversity of different flavonoids, not just the quantity. There are five main groups of flavonoids covering dozens of unique chemicals, but one main tranche is anthocyanins, found in abundance in grapes and red wine. Tea is rich in flavan-3-ols, another flavonoid, while orange juice is full of flavonones, and kale has high levels of flavones. Some foods, such as apples and tea, contain several flavonoids of different categories, while some only contain one. Scientists looked at the benefits of a diversity of these chemicals in a person's diet by assessing almost 125,000 Britons enrolled in the UK Biobank. Specific food and drink intake was compared to health outcomes over a decade of follow-up by scientists at Queen's University Belfast. Participants who consumed at least 1,000 milligrams of flavonoids a day were a fifth less likely to die during the study period, data showed, confirming that flavonoid quantity was linked to better health. Further analysis on the impact of flavonoid diversity found people in the lowest 20 per cent of the study consumed on average just one food product which was rich in flavonoids a day. Those in the top 20 per cent who ate five portions of flavonoid-rich foods a day were found to have a 16 per cent lower risk of death during the study period. Prof Aedín Cassidy, study author and chair in nutrition and preventive medicine at Queen's University Belfast, told The Telegraph: 'A flavonoid 'five-a-day' has the potential to reduce mortality. 'The data suggest that there is a benefit to consuming a wide range of flavonoids beyond that of simply consuming a high quantity as different flavonoids work in different ways, some improve blood pressure, others help with cholesterol levels and decrease inflammation. 'So having a variety of flavonoid-rich foods is important – eg one apple, a handful of berries, two cups of tea, and one orange. Other rich sources are onions, red wine, grapes, plums, and red cabbage.' People who hit their flavonoid five-a-day were also found to be 10 per cent less at risk of cardiovascular disease, when accounting for factors such as sex, education, BMI, profession, income, alcohol and smoking habits, prior medical history and other aspects of diet. The cancer risk was also 20 per cent lower for five-a-dayers compared to those who ate just one of their five-a-day, the study found. Risk of respiratory conditions was eight per cent lower, data showed, and there was no link for neurodegenerative conditions. 'Our findings highlight the importance of consuming a diverse range of flavonoids for the management of chronic disease risk, which, from a public health perspective, provides support for consuming a variety of flavonoid-rich foods such as green and/or black tea, berries, apples, oranges and grapes,' said the study authors in their paper. 'The collective actions of multiple flavonoids appear to lead to greater health protection compared with single subclasses or compounds. 'We found that consuming both a higher quantity and wider diversity of dietary flavonoids appears better for longer-term health than higher intakes of either component alone.'
Daily Mail
08-05-2025
- Daily Mail
The foods sold in Australia that have been linked to PARKINSON'S disease
People who regularly eat ultraprocessed foods have nearly triple the risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a study suggests. Chinese scientists found people who ate 11 or more servings of ultra-processed foods a day were 2.5 times more likely to have early signs of the progressive movement disorder Parkinson's disease than those eating three or fewer servings. Parkinson's is the second most common neurological disease in Australia after dementia, with more than 150,000 Aussies living with the condition. Incidence rates are increasing by about 4 per cent per year, costing the Australian health system about $10billion each year, according to Parkinson's Australia. Though it is more common in the elderly, up to 20 per cent of all people with Parkinson's have an early onset version and are diagnosed in their 20s to 50s. Actor Michael J Fox was famously diagnosed with the disease at just 29-years-old. The new study out of Fudan University in China shows Aussies can take a simple step to reduce their chances of being diagnosed with the disease: cutting out ultra-processed foods like fizzy drinks and tomato sauce. Even having three servings of these foods a day raised the risk by up to 60 per cent, the study said. It found artificial additives like emulsifiers, sweeteners and preservatives may promote inflammation and oxidative stress, damaging neurons in the brain that create dopamine, a neurotransmitter that controls movement. In Parkinson's, the brain can't produce enough dopamine, leading to issues like tremors, difficulty balancing and falls. Additionally, the foods quickly get absorbed into the bloodstream and attack the microbiome, a community of 'friendly' bacteria that live in the gut and communicate with the brain. Harmful bacteria creates inflammation in the brain that destroys dopamine-producing neurons. Young Aussies might be developing Parkinson's without knowing it, as the earliest signs - listed in the study as sleep issues, fatigue, constipation and a reduced ability to smell - might not progress to more tell-tale symptoms like tremors until decades later. 'Eating a healthy diet is crucial as it has been associated with a lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases and the dietary choices we make today can significantly influence our brain health in the future,' said study author Dr Xiang Gao. 'There's growing evidence that diet might influence the development of Parkinson's disease. Our research shows that eating too much processed food, like sugary sodas and packaged snacks, might be speeding up early signs of Parkinson's disease.' The study followed 42,853 people who did not have Parkinson's at the outset, recording their medical appointments and diet for up to 26 years. Researchers divided foods into four categories: unprocessed or minimally processed foods, processed culinary ingredients, processed foods and ultra-processed foods. Ultra-processed foods included were: sauces, spreads, or condiments; packaged sweets; snacks or desserts; artificially or sugar-sweetened beverages; animal-based products; yogurt or dairy-based desserts; and packaged savory snacks. The researchers found consuming 11 servings of ultraprocessed foods every day raised the risk of developing at least three early Parkinson's symptoms by 2.5 times compared to people who consumed three or fewer servings. 'Choosing to eat fewer processed foods and more whole, nutritious foods could be a good strategy for maintaining brain health,' Dr Gao said. 'More studies are needed to confirm our finding that eating less processed food may slow down the earliest signs of Parkinson's disease.' The study's main limitation was that participants self-reported their ultraprocessed food intake, so it's possible they may not have accurately calculated or remembered how many servings they had. Dr Daniel J van Wamelen, clinical senior lecturer in neuroscience and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at King's College London, noted while the results are 'interesting,' more definitive research is still needed. He said: 'It is important to highlight that the symptoms examined in this study are possible early signs of Parkinson's disease, not definitive indicators that someone will go on to develop it. The study did not track whether participants were diagnosed with Parkinson's later on. 'Many of the individual symptoms noted, such as sleep disturbances, constipation, and mood changes, are common in the general population. While the study found that people who ate more ultra-processed foods tended to report more of these non-motor symptoms, it did not find a direct increase in the risk of Parkinson's disease itself. 'The connection to Parkinson's disease should be viewed with caution until more definitive evidence becomes available.'
Telegraph
29-04-2025
- Telegraph
Champagne ‘protects' heart from cardiac arrest
Champagne and white wine 'protect' the heart from cardiac arrest, new research has suggested. Experts found that drinking wine, eating more fruit and keeping slim were all linked to a lower risk of a sudden cardiac arrest. Some 30,000 Britons each year suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (which is different from a heart attack). This occurs when the heart suddenly stops beating, and emergency resuscitation is required to start it again. Researchers said thousands of people could prevent it by tackling health and lifestyle issues, as they identified 56 risk factors. But an 'intriguing' finding of the research was that champagne and white wine seemed to produce a 'protective effect' on the heart. The research team, led by Fudan University in Shanghai, China, found that a higher consumption of white wine, more fruit, a consistent positive mood, maintaining a healthy weight and keeping blood pressure under control all seemed to protect against a cardiac arrest. People who were more educated also seemed less prone to cardiac arrest, the study, published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, suggested. Poor sleep patterns and a lack of exercise could be detrimental. No 'fed-up feelings' The study identified 56 risk factors associated with sudden cardiac arrest and found up to 63 per cent of cases might be avoidable if people changed unhealthy habits. It looked at 502,094 middle-aged to older people included in the UK Biobank's data. Of these, 3,147 people suffered sudden cardiac arrest during an average follow-up period of 13.8 years. The authors concluded that between 40 per cent and 63 per cent of sudden cardiac arrest cases may be avoidable when looking at all 56 risk factors, which included lifestyle factors, socio-economic status, and the local environment, such as exposure to air pollution. For lifestyle factors, researchers found that a higher consumption of champagne and/or white wine and fruit intake protected against cardiac arrest, while 'fed-up' feelings, high body mass indexes (BMIs) and arm fat mass, high blood pressure, and lower education level all increased the risk. It found that the risk for regular champagne and white wine drinkers was about 30 per cent lower. Dr Huihuan Luo, the lead investigator from Fudan University, said: 'The study found significant associations between various modifiable factors and sudden cardiac arrest, with lifestyle changes being the most impactful in preventing cases.' 'More complex than previously assumed' In an accompanying editorial, Nicholas Grubic, from the University of Toronto, and Dakota Gustafson, from Queen's University in Ontario, said: 'One of the study's most intriguing findings is the cardioprotective effect associated with champagne and white wine consumption, questioning long-held assumptions about the specificity of red wine's cardioprotective properties. 'Research on the underlying mechanisms remains unclear, but these findings reinforce the idea that the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption may be more complex than previously assumed.' Previous research has found that the polyphenols found in wine, which have typically been associated with red wine, can play a role in lowering blood pressure and reducing the risk of heart disease. These antioxidants can be found in all types of wine but are lower in white varieties. Despite this, the research suggests they may help to protect the body's heart. Experts believe the antioxidants found in alcoholic drinks can help to protect the heart and other body cells as well as the brain, with some researchers suggesting it can ward off dementia. However, the research, which found a link rather than cause, has not taken into account the other potential harms that alcohol can cause or whether there is a net benefit to having a glass of wine.
