What the Studies Say
It's hard not to be confused by all the scientific studies that are released every day. The information is often complicated, incomplete, or even contradictory. What is universally accepted is that excessive consumption of alcohol creates serious health risks — liver damage and hypertension among them. At the same time, evidence is emerging that moderate wine consumption can be beneficial in a number of areas.
Heart Disease and Stroke
Individuals who drink alcoholic beverages in moderation have a lower risk of coronary heart disease than heavy drinkers or abstainers. It doesn't seem to matter whether the alcohol comes from an expensive Bordeaux, a Budweiser, or a dirty martini. The alcohol increases the level of “good” cholesterol (HDL) in the body. HDL acts like a detergent, removing excess fat in the blood and carrying it to the liver where it is metabolized.
Much the same holds true for preventing strokes. In addition to increasing the level of good cholesterol, the blood is prevented from clotting — which reduces the risk of ischemic strokes.
What is “moderate” consumption?
The U.S. government defines it as no more than two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. One drink is the equivalent of five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer, or one shot (about 1.5 ounces) of spirits like scotch or vodka. Other countries define “moderate” more liberally.
Diabetes
Observational studies indicate that diabetes occurs less often in moderate drinkers than in abstainers. The Harvard School of Public Health conducted a study of 100,000 women over 14 years. The women were divided into three levels of alcohol consumption. After factoring for family history of diabetes and smoking, the results showed that the women who drank moderately and regularly had a 58 percent lower risk of developing diabetes than abstainers. Women who drank more or less still had a 20 percent lower risk than nondrinkers. Results applied to both wine and beer drinkers — but not spirits drinkers.
Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia
Studies around the world have shown that moderate drinkers are less likely to develop dementia. Research on elderly participants have documented that the moderate drinkers performed better on memory and cognitive tests than nondrinkers.
In a Danish study designed to screen for signs of mental decline, researchers found that participants who drank at least one glass of wine a week were much less likely than those who drank no wine to develop dementia. Beer and spirits failed to produce the same results.
Bone Mass
It was once accepted that alcohol lowers a woman's bone mass, leading to osteoporosis. However, a couple of recent studies have indicated otherwise. One study was conducted to determine the effect of alcohol consumption on the bones of elderly women and how that might differ from the use of estrogen-replacement therapy. Moderate drinkers, it showed, had the greatest bone mass followed by light drinkers and followed, finally, by nondrinkers.
In a study of twins in England, it was determined that moderate-drinking individuals had significantly greater bone mass than their infrequently drinking twins.
Longevity
The American Cancer Society conducted a survey of a half million people over nine years to examine “total mortality”; that is, the risk of dying of any cause. The risk was greatest among both abstainers and people who drank six or more alcoholic beverages a day. Moderate drinkers (those who had one-half to two drinks a day) had a 21 percent lower risk than nondrinkers.
Patterns of Consumption
Current thinking is that the health effects of alcohol consumption depend on both how much you drink and your drinking patterns. Because many of the biological effects of alcohol are short-lived (lasting only 24 hours), the best advice seems to be, if you're going to drink, do it moderately every day. Don't save it up for weekend partying.
Obviously, drinking alcoholic beverages is always inappropriate at certain times, such as when you're going to be behind the wheel of a car. If you are pregnant, talk to your doctor. Fetal alcohol syndrome is caused by heavy drinking.
A recent University College London study of civil servants found frequent drinking was more beneficial for cognitive function than drinking only on special occasions. Research on hypertension at the Worcester Medical Center in Massachusetts determined that men who drank monthly had a 17 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease than nondrinkers. Weekly drinkers had a 39 percent lower risk, and daily drinkers had a 44 percent lower risk.
Although the explanations have yet to be conclusively determined, consuming alcoholic beverages with food seems to be beneficial as well.
