Moderate alcohol consumption appears to pose little danger to men with high blood pressure, and may even reduce their risk of heart attack, according to a study published Jan. 2.

Beginning in 1986, researchers followed 11,711 male health professionals previously given diagnoses of hypertension, using a questionnaire about diet, alcohol consumption and medical history every four years. The study, which followed the men through 2002, appears in The Annals of Internal Medicine.

During 16 years of follow-up, the study recorded 653 heart attacks, of which 279 were fatal. There was little difference between abstainers and those who consumed up to 4.9 grams of alcohol per day. But after adjusting for age, smoking, the use of blood pressure medication and other factors, men who consumed 15 to 29.9 grams a day -- the equivalent of one to two drinks -- lowered their risk for fatal heart attack by 30 percent. The more alcohol they consumed, the more they reduced their risk, by up to 60 percent for those who consumed more than 50 grams a day.

''In no way does this suggest that people should be drinking more than three drinks a day,'' said Eric B. Rimm, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. ''But the results do suggest that people who have hypertension have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease if they drink moderately.''

Alcohol consumption also lowered the risk for nonfatal heart attack, but it did not affect the risk of death from cardiovascular disease or death from all causes.

The authors acknowledge that their data depends on self-reports, which are not always reliable. Dr. Rimm received an honorarium two years ago from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.