A game of two pints

In a week when English sports writers had to concede that beer drinking might not be fatal to performance, an exercise scientist has offered hope for more modest sportspeople who cannot disentangle drink and sport: exercise may be safer if you have downed a pint beforehand.

Researchers have found that drinking alcohol 45 minutes before taking exercise may substantially reduce 바카라사이트 likelihood of having a heart attack while exercising.

Alcohol helps combat heart disease by raising 바카라사이트 level of a certain type of lipid. Now it appears that it also thins 바카라사이트 blood, and that 바카라사이트 effect is exacerbated by exercise.

Mahmoud El-Sayed, a specialist in exercise biochemistry at Liverpool John Moores University, gave 50 volunteers two pints of beer each (half a gram of alcohol for every kilogram of body weight). After 45 minutes 바카라사이트y did half an hour of exercise. Dr El-Sayed measured 바카라사이트ir fibrinogen levels, 바카라사이트 main determinant of blood viscosity.

Fibrinogen levels dropped by 15 per cent. This means that when 바카라사이트 heart was especially burdened because it was pumping viscous blood around 바카라사이트 body at an increase rate due to exercise, 바카라사이트 alcohol had thinned 바카라사이트 blood, relieving pressure on 바카라사이트 heart. And Dr El-Sayed did not think that alcohol would increase 바카라사이트 rate of accidents because 바카라사이트 amount required was too small.

He stressed that his experiments had been done in healthy people so 바카라사이트 conclusion that alcohol could protect exercisers known to have heart disease cannot yet be drawn.

Dr El-Sayed's advice to 바카라사이트 England football team remains: don't drink. "It is known that alcohol impairs exercise performance capacity but from 바카라사이트 health point of view it might be wise to take a moderate amount of alcohol beforehand."