LiveLongAgeWell

I have a regular disagreement with a doctor friend of mine. I tell him that most research supports that people who drink a little alcohol each day live longer, and he says no, sorry, that can’t be… (or if he’s in a good mood, he might concede: “yes, but only if it’s red wine”). And I always respond: no, actually, even people who drink a little gin or vodka or whatever each day live longer and with less risk of early death. It’s always the same argument.

So I was happy to see this recent publication of a large, impartial research project (part of the U.S. Health and Retirement Study) from a reliable institution; the University of California San Francisco, which followed 12,519 adults age 55 and over during a four year period with one question: who was more likely to die—of any cause—during the four-year period—those who didn’t drink any alcohol, those who drank “moderately” (one drink per day), or those who drank “heavily” (three or more drinks per day).

They found that people who had one drink per day enjoyed a 28 percent lower risk of dying during the four-year period. The researchers controlled for other factors like race, smoking, obesity, socioeconomic status and so forth to make sure that what made the difference was only the alcohol intake, and not some other factor(s), like that people who could afford a little alcohol each day also were thinner, or had better diets, or wore their seatbelts more, etc.

The study further concluded that people who drank three or more drinks per day increased their risk of dying during the four years by 11%. Those who drank just a little bit—averaging one drink per week—did not show a lower death risk like those who had one drink a day. In this study, the people who drank a little bit, or we might say moderately (one drink per day),  survived the best.

Alcohol and health though is a complex and controversial topic, and it brings out lots of passion and guilt, fear, danger…all of that, in doctors as well as in the general public. Floating around is the concern regarding addiction, and for all of us, that needs to be considered.

If you care to read more about this, and how cancer risk compares with heart risk and alcohol, I suggest you might start with this recent WebMD article.

Now I’ll ask my doctor friend—the one with whom I argue this issue—and see what he thinks about this UC San Francisco study. I suspect he won’t believe it. If you remind me, I’ll tell you what he says.

ps….yes, Buzz the poodle is better