By Micah Hanks

With more than a decade in online coverage of cardiology, medical website TheHeart.org now reports that a study among Spanish citizens found that regular consumers of alcohol are less likely to suffer from coronary heart disease. “Spain is the world’s third largest wine producer and ninth largest beer producer,” the report says, according to Dr Larraitz Arriola with Spain’s Public Health Department located in Gipuzkoa. “In 2003, Spain was also in sixth position in the world ranking of alcohol consumption,” he says. Deaths resulting from coronary heart disease in Spain rank among the lowest in the world, along with countries like China, Switzerland, and France.

Studies linking alcohol consumption and heart conditions have been issued before in the past, although “There are numerous discussions regarding whether this association is causal or biased,” Arriola an his colleagues say. Questions including whether diet may also affect this, in addition to the specific types of alcohol were being consumed, and how the results varied according to gender are questions worthy of further inquiry.