Anyone who drinks has probably decided either that the health benefits don’t exist or don’t matter. We’re pretty sure no one drinks because of the health benefits. No matter what you tell your spouse. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in the news about alcohol and health, because we’re always in the market for a useful rationalization.
Well, good luck on that, bucko. Because the news is contradictory, and each new finding only adds to the confusion. The Brits have been subjected to baffling guidance from their health czars, and so have we in America. You want to believe that there’s a good summation of the information that would clarify the situation. Well there is. The L.A. Times published one last week. It’s focused mostly on women. And ladies, you still don’t know what’s good for you and what’s bad.
To wit: “In the last year alone, medical researchers have reported that women who drink moderately are more likely to get breast cancer but also live longer after a heart attack; are more likely to have stronger bones if they choose wine; have lower odds of developing asthma or dementia if they average one drink per day (men can average two); and have higher odds of gastrointestinal problems from bacterial overgrowth.”
This very solid bit of journalism breaks down the numbers on breast cancer, and qualifies the heart benefits, noting that the “benefits of moderate drinking for coronary heart disease increase with age.” So a woman over 50 will likely “gain more benefit than harm.” Younger women need to be more careful.
The researchers as always caution that every benefit is erased by heavy drinking. If imbibers can limit themselves, though, the benefits can be impressive: “Moderate drinking — moderate, not heavy — seems to do more than lower the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes. Studies also suggest that people who drink moderately live longer and have lower rates of diabetes, dementia, arthritis, enlarged prostate, osteoporosis, gall bladder disease and even some cancers, such as those of the kidney and thyroid. The evidence is not as extensive for these other conditions as it is for cardiovascular-related conditions, but the magnitude of effects is often quite large — reducing risk by one-quarter, one-third or one-half.”
And by the way, there was supporting evidence in another study last week, on the beneficial cardiovascular impact of beer. “Researchers analyzed 16 studies involving more than 200,000 participants and found that the heart disease risk for moderate beer drinkers – those who drank about a pint a day – was reduced 31 percent on average.”
One hesitates to call this a miracle drug. But it can cut the risk of some of these nasty diseases by a third to a half and the side effects–typically due to over-consumption–have been known and written about for millennia. Imagine the excitement if we just discovered that ground-up ginko root could do that, or green tea, or flax.
Photo: Smelling wine as part of wine tasting by Neeta Lind, via Wikimedia Commons
