Moderate drinking and excercise help live longer : research

London, Jan 9 (UNI) Having a beer after a tiring day and working out regularly is the best combination to live a healthy and longer life - even better than total abstention, new research claims.

According to the study published in European Heart Journal, moderate drinking and exercise reduce blood pressure, which has significant health benefits.

The study also found that drinking and exercising - though not together - were particularly effective against fatal heart disease, reducing the risk by up to 50 per cent compared with those who were inactive and teetotal.

When widened to risk from all deaths, the reduction was up to a third, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Though heavier drinking when combined with exercise dulled the health-giving effects, it was only found to be as bad as exercising and not drinking, the study revealed.

Researchers kept a track of 11,914 Danish men and women over 20 years and found that 1,242 people died from ischaemic heart disease, damage to the heart muscle caused by lack of blood flow, and there were 5,901 deaths from all causes.

They concluded that exercise appeared to be the best way to avoid dying but when combined with moderate drinking - up to the equivalent of four litres a week was even more effective.

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