Glass of wine or beer a day reduces risk of an early death, says new study
A glass of wine or pint of beer a day can help people to
live longer, according to new research. The study suggests that light-to-moderate
alcohol consumption - classed as less than 14 drinks a week for men, and seven
for women - may have "protective" health effects and can reduce the
risk of dying young.
Experts said the findings show that for most older people,
the overall benefits of light drinking "clearly outweigh" the
possible cancer risk.
Heavy drinking has been linked to a host of health issues -
including heart disease, but alcohol in moderation is widely recommended.
But, despite these recommendations, previous studies of the
risk of dying among light-to-moderate drinkers were inconsistent in their
findings.
For the new study, researchers examined the association
between alcohol consumption and risk of mortality from all causes, cancer and
cardiovascular disease in the United States.
They studied data from 333,247 participants obtained through
the National Health Interview Surveys from 1997 to 2009. The study participants
were surveyed regarding their drinking and patterns of use.
They were divided into six groups, based on their drinking
patterns: lifetime abstainers, lifetime infrequent drinkers, former drinkers
and current light (less than three drinks per week), moderate (more than three
drinks per week to less than 14 drinks per week for men or less than seven
drinks per week for women) or heavy drinkers - more than 14 drinks per week for
men or seven per week for women.
Beer terms defined
Session IPA
A lower-alcohol version (mostly below 5% ABV) of US-style
IPA (often around 7% ABV) and packs a zesty, fruit-flavoured punch with a piny,
resinous – sometimes grapefruit-flavoured – bitterness. India Pale Ale is a
British invention: beer was highly hopped for transport to colonial India.
Berliner Weisse
Originally from the area around Berlin and probably first
brewed in the 17th century. It’s a hazy wheat beer made deliberately sour by
adding lactic acid bacteria to create a refreshing, effervescent drink.
Gose
Pronounced goze-uh, this is another German-style brew which
was virtually extinct until recently. It was mostly brewed in the Leipzig area
and is apparently named after the River Gose. Like Berliner Weisse, its
sourness comes from lactic acid bacteria. Traditionally it was made using an
equal mixture of wheat and barley malt and flavoured with coriander and salt.
Lambic
A Belgian beer and can only be brewed in and around Brussels
as its sourness depends on the local wild yeasts of the Brettanomyces strain.
Brewers prepare the beer in the traditional way but then open vents in the roof
to allow in wild yeast to ferment the beer.
Gueuze
A blend of lambic beers of different ages.
Saison
The word means “season” in French: the beer originated in
Belgium at a time before artificial refrigeration was possible. Brewing would
cease during summer to avoid beer being spoilt. Beers were brewed from autumn
through to spring and kept to quench the thirst of farmworkers during the
harvest. They’re usually quite strong and snappily dry with fairly strong
carbonation and a citric, herbal character.
Bitter and pale
These are two sides of the same coin. Traditional British
styles of beer – usually quite hoppy but sometimes more delicate so malt
flavours come through – have been around since the 1800s. Pale ale was
historically a paler, bottled version of bitter.
Lager
Study lead author Doctor Bo Xi, associate professor at
Shandong University School of Public Health in China, said: "Our research
shows that light-to-moderate drinking might have some protective effects
against cardiovascular disease, while heavy drinking can lead to death.
"A delicate balance exists between the beneficial and
detrimental effects of alcohol consumption, which should be stressed to
consumers and patients."
Throughout the length of the study, 34,754 participants died
from all-causes. Of those, 8,947 deathss were cardiovascular disease-specific,
and 8,427 mortalities were cancer-specific.
Researchers found that male heavy drinkers had a 25 per cent
increased risk of mortality due to all-causes and a 67 per cent increase in
mortality from cancer.
The increases were not significantly noticed in women. There
was no association found between heavy drinking and cardiovascular disease
mortality.
Moderate drinking was associated with a 13 per cent and 25
per cent decreased risk of all-cause mortality, and 21 per cent and 34 per cent
decreased risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, respectively, in both men
and women.
Similar findings were observed for light drinking in both
genders.
Study co-author Doctor Sreenivas Veeranki, assistant
professor in preventive medicine and community health at University of Texas
Medical Branch, said: "We have taken rigorous statistical approaches to
address issues reported in earlier studies such as abstainer bias, sick quitter
phenomenon and limited confounding adjustment in our study.
"A J-shaped relationship exists between alcohol
consumption and mortality, and drinkers should drink with consciousness."
Doctor Giovanni de Gaetano, director of the Department of
Epidemiology and Prevention at IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed
said the findings show younger adults should not expect considerable benefit
from moderate drinking.
But he added: "For most older persons, the overall
benefits of light drinking, especially the reduced cardiovascular disease risk,
clearly outweigh possible cancer risk."
