(Compassionate Eye Foundation/Siri Stafford)
If you toast 'to long life' over the holidays, you've got research on your side. There's much scientific data suggesting that moderate drinkers who consume 1 - 2 alcoholic beverages a day, live longer than those who drink more than that - or even those who don't consume alcohol at all. The results are likely due to a reduction in cardiovascular events, like heart attack and stroke.
Much of the research points to red wine having the greatest longevity benefit, thanks to the higher concentration of the antioxidant resveratrol contained in the grape skins that give red wine its color. A new paper in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs suggests that other types of alcohol, found in hard liquor and beer, may also be protective.
The study looked at 802 older adults, aged 55-65, and followed them over a 20-year period. The participants were categorized according to alcohol consumption, with the moderate drinkers (1 drink to less than 3 drinks in the last month) further sorted according to whether the ethanol in their drinks came mostly from wine, or other beverages.
The researchers found that the subjects whose alcohol came mostly from wine were younger, of higher socioeconomic status, less likely to smoke, had fewer overall health problems and lived longer, than those drinking other sources of alcohol, whose mortality risk was 85% higher over the 20 year period. However, once the socioeconomic and health problems were accounted for, the risk of dying for these two groups was not statistically different. The findings suggest it's not the wine per se that led to greater longevity.
The authors caution that their investigation included consumption of less than three drinks per day (so, more than the recommended consumption limits of 1 - 2 drinks per day), a level associated with hazards like increased falls and a higher risk of problem drinking. They also emphasize that their research does not "endorse initiation of drinking among nondrinkers".
However, if beer - or champagne - is your drink of choice (in moderation!), take heart. Wine may not be the only beverage to help keep you around, to ring in many more New Years!
Read more:
Red Wine as Part of an Anti-Aging Diet
Resveratrol Supplements: Do They Work?
Can Any Supplements Help You Live Longer?
Source:
Wine Consumption and 20-Year Mortality Among Late-Life Moderate Drinkers. Charles J. Holahan et al. J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 73, 80-88, 2012.
