How To Use Alcohol
For Health
Since the
beginning of man there has been an attraction to ferment foodstuffs to produce
alcohol. Alcohol is the most misused drug in the world with its excessive use
causing untold misery to families, individuals and communities. Its financial
and social costs are huge and it causes a greatly increased death rate from
accidents and health related illnesses. Yet its widespread use is still
condoned by most communities in the world and there seems little hope of that
changing. Prohibition tried many years ago in America did not work.
For years
the “French Paradox” where a nation with a high intake of saturated fats also
had a low rate of coronary heart disease puzzled the medical world. One
explanation was they also had a high red wine intake. While it is problematical
that this is the only reason it did lead to large scale studies on the effect
of alcohol on health. The end result of these studies shows quite conclusively
that a moderate alcohol intake does reduce the likelihood of a heart attack or
stroke. This article discusses this in more detail and outlines how alcohol can
be used to give a positive health outcome if is consumed in moderate amounts.
This
article is not written to encourage people to drink but it is saying drink in
moderation and the benefits are likely to outweigh the negatives. Doctors have
known for years that the occasional drink could be better for health than
complete abstinence. Moderate alcohol consumption has been shown by many studies over recent years to have better health and longevity outcomes than total abstinence or heavy drinking. In terms of alcohol type, red wine has been marginally better than beer which has been marginally better than spirits.
While some of these differences can be put down to
anti oxidant type compounds there does seem a beneficial effect from the
alcohol itself as a number of studies show
Some of these studies are.
- Alcohol Benefits Begin at 33 : Dr Chris Power - Lancet 2004
- Reaping Alcohol's Benefit : National Institute of Health - June 2004 Clinical & Experimental Research
- Moderate Alcohol Consumption could help protect women against Osteoporosis : St Thomas Hospital- July 2004 Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
- A glass of wine a day keeps prostate cancer away: Janet Stanford - Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle. USA
- Regular drink helps the heart after surgery : University of Heidelberg, Germany - Oct 2004 Heart
- Glass of wine for longer life : Leisure World Cohort Study - Sept meeting 56Ih American Academy of Neurology
- Alcohol may fight heart attack damage : Dr Rod Korthuis - University Missouri-Columbia ( published study)
- Alcohol helps older women's grey cells : Dr Graham McDougall - University of Texas 5 year study
- Compounds found in wine could inhibit Alzheimer’s : Dr Michikatsu Sato Govt Alcohol R&D Centre, .Japan - Journal of Bioscience Biotechnology and Biochemistry Vol 67
How many
drinks provide just the benefits and not the harm? It depends on whether a person
is most at risk of heart disease, diabetes or breast cancer. But there is one
bottom line: Five or six drinks only on Saturday night will provide no
benefits, while a drink or two a night might.
The
analysis by the National Institutes of Health sorted out a plethora of
sometimes conflicting research on alcohol’s effects. The review was prompted by
cardiologists' complaints that patients suddenly were asking if they should
start imbibing, and how much. Other research is overturning the dogma that
people at risk of diabetes should abstain; still more links even light drinking
to breast cancer.
Adding
confusion, people are vulnerable to more than one disease as they age. A
50-year old woman with breast cancer in the family might get very different
advice on alcohol than one who's pre-diabetic with high cholesterol.
The review
states we are not encouraging anybody to start drinking alcoholism remains a
major health problem, and people with liver disease may not tolerate even
moderate drinking.
Instead,
the review is aimed at people who already drink some and concludes that to get alcohol's
potential health benefits, how much those people can consume must be customized
by their age, gender and overall medical history.
As
population-wide advice, consuming two drinks a day for men and one a day for women
is linked to lower mortality and unlikely to harm, the review found men shouldn't
exceed four drinks on any day, and women three - bingeing is simply bad.
But review's
disease-by-disease findings provide better details:
·
Studies
consistently show that in people 40 or older, consuming one to four drinks
daily significantly reduces the risk of heart disease, the nation's leading
killer. In contrast, five or more drinks daily markedly increase the heart
risk.
• However, frequency seems the key; consuming
smaller amounts several times a week – one or two daily or every other day - is
most heart-protective. It apparently takes low, regular alcohol exposure to
help raise levels of the body's so-called good cholesterol, the HDL type, and
to thin blood.
·
The
alcohol-breast cancer link remains controversial. Some studies suggest a small increase
in risk that roughly 9 in 100 non drinkers may get breast cancer by age 80, compared
with 10 in 100 women who consume two drinks a day. Per person that's a tiny risk.
But women whose mothers or sisters had breast cancer, or those taking
post-menopausal estrogens replacement are at greater risk from alcohol. Those
women must weigh the fear of breast cancer against their risk of heart disease
in deciding whether to avoid alcohol.
• One to two drinks a day several days
per week seems to lower the risk of Type 2 diabetes, a disease rising at
epidemic proportions. Low levels of alcohol apparently help the body use
insulin to process blood sugar better. The benefit was seen among the overweight
and those with "metabolic syndrome," a cluster of pre-diabetic
weight-related symptoms that include high blood pressure and poor cholesterol.
·
There's
no known safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, but what about while
breast-feeding? Nursing mothers who want an occasional drink should consume it several
hours before the next feeding, enough time to metabolize the alcohol so little reaches
the infant. And contrary to folklore, alcohol does not aid lactation but
temporarily decreases milk production.
• How much is a drink a day? 140 ml of
wine, 340 ml of beer or 42 ml of distilled spirits is generally accepted as the
standard. That is a glass of wine or a small bottle.
A study
recently in Spain showed a significant weight loss from the consumption of red
wine in moderation. Of all the alcohol types red wine seems the most desirable.
This likely because of the presence of resveratrol in red wine, a compound that
has been shown to have definite health benefits and is available in many health
food shops in a capsule formulation.
So to sum
up, heavy drinkers have the worst outcomes but moderate drinkers, that is, 1-3
drinks for men and 1-2 for woman on a daily basis, have a better life
expectancy and health outcomes than total abstainers.