Think a Little Alcohol Might Be Healthy? Think Again

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 3, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Wine lovers, brew drinkers and those who bask a martini present and past person agelong been told that mean drinking beats full abstinence.

Unfortunately, new German research is throwing immoderate acold h2o connected that advice, uncovering that premature decease among non-drinkers is apt the effect of unrelated wellness problems that person small to bash with the determination to forgo Chardonnay oregon Tanqueray.

"For galore years, the content successful aesculapian attraction was that low-to-moderate alcohol drinking whitethorn adhd to health, successful peculiar to cardiovascular health," said pb researcher Ulrich John.

Red vino successful particular, helium noted, has received a batch of attraction for its purported quality to springiness mean drinkers a longevity limb up implicit abstainers.

"This does not look to beryllium justified successful the airy of the contiguous study," said John, a prof emeritus of prevention probe and societal medicine with the Institute of Community Medicine astatine University Medicine Greifswald, successful Germany.

Why? Because "the bulk among abstainers look to person terrible hazard factors successful their life" that existed earlier immoderate determination to not drink.

In a study published online Nov. 2 successful PLOS Medicine, John and his colleagues presented results of a survey of much than 4,000 German men and women who were 18 to 64 years of property erstwhile they were interviewed betwixt 1996 and 1997.

All were asked to uncover their drinking habits successful the preceding year, on with accusation astir their wide wellness history, and intoxicant and cause use. Death information were disposable from a follow-up 20 years later.

Just implicit 11% said they had abstained from intoxicant during the anterior year. But astir 9 successful 10 of them said they had been drinkers astatine 1 time, the findings showed. Nearly three-quarters had astatine slightest 1 large hazard origin for aboriginal death, including risky intoxicant depletion and tobacco use.

Among abstainers, conscionable implicit one-third said they had a anterior alcohol abuse problem, portion astir fractional said they smoked daily, for instance. About 11% described their wide wellness presumption arsenic "fair" oregon "poor."

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The investigators besides recovered that premature decease from cancer oregon heart disease was nary higher among the abstainers who had nary different wellness hazard factors than it was among low-to-moderate drinkers.

"We were amazed by the ample proportionality of those who had erstwhile intoxicant oregon cause usage disorders among the abstainers," John said.

But successful the end, helium added, "the bulk of intoxicant abstainers had terrible wellness hazard factors that mightiness explicate the greater likelihood to dice early, successful opposition to the low-to-moderate drinkers."

John's advice: "Please bash not portion intoxicant for wellness reasons." If a steadfast beingness is the goal, helium added, "the optimum is not to portion alcohol."

The findings travel arsenic small astonishment to Lona Sandon, programme manager of the section of objective nutrition astatine the UT Southwestern Medical Center successful Dallas.

There is nary compelling crushed a non-drinker should commencement utilizing intoxicant successful bid to beforehand wellness oregon trim hazard of disease, she said.

"And for radical with precocious hazard of cancer, peculiarly breast cancer, immoderate magnitude of intoxicant is not recommended," Sandon added.

But what astir each the reported wellness benefits of reddish wine?

In an online report, the Mayo Clinic acknowledged that antioxidants successful reddish vino whitethorn summation levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol, portion polyphenols specified arsenic resveratrol person been said to assistance bounds blood vas harm and trim humor clotting risk.

Could that mean that reddish vino is the objection to the caller advice? So far, the probe aiming to beryllium arsenic overmuch has been inconclusive, according to the Mayo Clinic report.

And Sandon cautioned that erstwhile it comes to promoting health, "red vino does not marque up for mediocre diet, and deficiency of exercise oregon different healthy habits."

She recalled a lawsuit who was an avid runner.

"She wanted to suffer immoderate assemblage abdominous successful hopes to amended her moving times," Sandon said. "She was besides drinking reddish vino connected a adjacent regular ground arsenic she believed it to beryllium a steadfast habit."

As it turned out, the pistillate was really drinking the equivalent of 2 to 3 drinks a day. "At this amount, it is nary longer healthy, and the other calories were not helping her to scope her weight-loss goals," Sandon said.

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Her advice: "Don't fool yourself into reasoning reddish vino is the fountain of youth. It whitethorn really bash much harm than good."

More information

There's much astir the risks and benefits of drinking astatine the Harvard School of Public Health.

SOURCES: Ulrich John, PhD, prof emeritus, prevention probe and societal medicine, Institute of Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Germany; Lona Sandon, PhD, RDN, LD, programme manager and subordinate professor, objective nutrition, School of Health Professions, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas; Mayo Clinic, "Red vino and resveratrol: Good for your heart?", Oct. 22, 2019; PLOS Medicine, Nov. 2, 2021, online