“Wine is the most healthful and hygienic of beverages.” So said that master of liquid health and hygiene, Louis Pasteur. With more than 100 studies confirming a link between moderate alcohol consumption – one or two drinks a day – and a decreased risk of heart attack or stroke, it is tempting to raise a glass to him and to that.
Stay that hand, though. A confounding factor in most such studies is that people who drink in moderation also tend to share characteristics that lower heart-disease risk: they exercise more regularly, have a healthier weight, sleep better and are more affluent than those who drink to excess or never drink (perhaps because they quit due to health problems).
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Overall, there is no consensus on who, if anyone, might benefit from moderate alcohol consumption, and by how much. Older people do seem to benefit more, but that could be because their overall risk of heart disease is higher. There is similarly no undisputed evidence that red wine arrests cognitive decline, as has been suggested.
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“There’s no consensus on who, if anyone, benefits from alcohol”
Set these small and disputed benefits alongside the 3.3 million deaths that the World 91ɫƬ Organization attributes directly to alcohol consumption each year, and the fact it is , and things start to look that much less positive.
But let’s not go overboard. There’s a lot to be said for alcohol’s role as a social lubricant, and few studies connect moderate consumption with any significant increased mortality risk. One drink also makes you better at creative problem-solving. As with so much, the difficulty is knowing when to stop.
- For more of the latest research on the effects of alcohol, go to /topic/alcohol/
This article appeared in print under the headline “Alcoholic drinks”