Another Benefit of Drinking Alcohol for Women

The health benefits of 1-2 drinks a day have been cited before.  But now there’s a new one – a lessened risk of weight gain (at least in women).  This is perhaps counter-intuitive – alcohol contains ‘empty calories’ that might be expected to increase, rather than decrease, weight gain.  Harvard researchers have reported a controlled study on this topic in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Almost 20,000 women in the Women’s Health Study, who were over 38, were disease-free, and had a normal body mass index (BMI), were enrolled.  Weight and alcohol consumption were reported on annual questionnaires over the study period, which averaged 13 years.  Alcohol intake was used to classify the subjects into 5 groups: nondrinkers; 0-5 grams daily; 5-15 grams daily; 15-30 grams daily; and more than 30 grams daily.  (A 12 oz light beer has 11 grams, 5 oz red wine has 16 grams, and a shot of whisky has about 14 grams of alcohol.)

During the study, 41.3% of the women became overweight (BMI over 25), while 3.8% became obese (BMI over 30).  The average weight gain was 8 pounds for those who didn’t drink, vs. 3.4 pounds for moderate drinkers.

Analyses showed there was ‘dose-dependency’ In this relationship: the more alcohol consumed daily (up to 40 grams daily), the larger the decrease in weight gain, compared with no-intake subjects.  Clearly, compared with nondrinkers, normal weight women who drank a light to a moderate amount of alcohol daily gained less weight and were less likely to become overweight or obese over a 12-year period.  The researchers, however, had no definite explanation for this finding.  Did the women substitute alcohol for food with higher calorie content?  Or did women metabolize alcohol differently from men, who don’t show this effect?  Whatever – women certainly shouldn’t take these findings as grounds to drink more alcohol.  One, or maybe two, drinks a day are quite enough for your health’s sake.