Maybe Just One More Glass . . .

We’ve been saying for years that moderate amount of alcohol is good for you – by moderate we mean 1 drink a day for women and 2 drinks a day for men. This is because of the famous J-shaped curve that shows the ‘optimal’ amount of alcoholic intake.

Now a meta-analysis of 34 studies has been done; it suggests that the bottom of the J-shaped curve should move a bit to the right, which is good news for wine-drinkers. The analysis covered over 1 million subjects and almost 95,000 deaths. A drink was defined as 10 grams of ethanol. Women were found to have a lower mortality if they drank 10 to 25 grams of alcohol a day, while men benefited from about 20 to 42 grams a day. This translates into 1-2 drinks a day for women and 2-4 drinks a day for men. The maximum risk reduction was 18% (women) and 17% (men).

It’s noteworthy that geography played a role, at least for men. Women had the same risk reduction wherever they lived, while European men had a maximum reduction of 20% to 28%, whereas American men had a reduction of 14% to 19%. The authors of the study speculate that this may be related to the way that men drink. In Europe, the tendency is for relatively small amounts of alcohol, taken with meals - the rest of the day is alcohol-free. And, of course, wine is a favored source of alcohol to a greater degree in Europe.

As I said, this is good news for wine-drinkers, coming just in time for the holiday season. Don’t forget, however, in the course of exercising your new ‘freedom’, to avoid accelerating up the right-hand side of the curve, or getting behind the wheel of your car. Happy Christmas! No blog tomorrow.