Mass migration from France to England and Wales 3,000 years ago displaced about HALF of the ancestry of.'In the current study, path analyses showed that the link between moderate alcohol intake and lowered cardiovascular event risk is significantly mediated though reductions in amygdalar activity.' 'Previous studies by our group and others have shown a robust association between heightened amygdalar activity and a higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular outcomes, such as heart attack, stroke or death,' Dr Mezue said. This remained significant even after controlling for demographic variables, cardiovascular risk factors, socioeconomic variables and psychological factors. People who reported moderate alcohol intake had not only a 20 per cent lower chance of having a major event compared to low alcohol intake, but also lower stress-related brain activity. Of the 53,064 participants, 7,905 (15 per cent) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event – 17 per cent in the low alcohol intake group and 13 per cent in the moderate alcohol intake group. They then grouped patients based on the extent of brain stress activity. The scans allowed researchers to measure activity in regions of the brain known to be associated with stress – the amygdala and the frontal cortex. Of the patients included, 752 underwent PET scans, which are often used as part of cancer screening but can also show areas in the brain that have increased activity. While the connection between stress and heart disease is widely accepted, the authors said relatively little research had been done on how modifying stress may help protect heart health. 'So other interventions with better side effect profiles that beneficially impact brain-heart pathways are needed.' 'Alcohol has several important side effects, including an increased risk of cancer, liver damage and dependence,' Dr Mezue said. They call for new therapies to help lower stress that don't have the drawbacks of alcohol.Ĭonsumption of any kind of alcohol has been previously linked with weight gain for example, as well as some serious health conditions. 'The thought is that moderate amounts of alcohol may have effects on the brain that can help you relax, reduce stress levels and, perhaps through these mechanisms, lower the incidence of cardiovascular disease.'ĭespite their findings, the research team are actually advocating other, healthier ways of alleviating stress on the brain over alcohol consumption. 'While people who drank excessively (more than 14 drinks per week) had the highest level of stress-related brain activity. 'We found that stress-related activity in the brain was higher in non-drinkers when compared with people who drank moderately,' said study author Dr Kenechukwu Mezue at Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School.