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Moderate Alcohol Consumption, Good News with a Caveat
 Auburn,
January 22, 2003
--- With each passing study the message is becoming as crystal clear
as a freshly scrubbed wine goblet -- moderate alcohol consumption is
good for some people. It may even reduce the risk of coronary
artery disease.
But the operative word here is “some.” And for this reason,
most of the nation’s health care professionals continue to preach
temperance in many cases. Yes, moderate alcohol consumption may
help some people, but it isn’t for everyone. In some cases, it may
even do more harm than good.
At
Auburn
University, Dr. Robert Keith, Alabama Cooperative Extension System
nutritionist and Auburn University professor of nutrition and foods,
is impressed like most health professionals by the increasingly
unambiguous findings of these studies. But he’s sticking with his
old advice.
“If you’ve been having a drink or two a day throughout the
week for most of your adult life, there is probably no reason to
stop it,” Keith says. “But there’s a big difference between telling
someone to keep doing what he’s been doing and advising someone else
to start a drinking habit.”
This, Keith says, is especially true for young adults.
“There’s a very fine line here,” he says. “If you’ve got a
male, say, between the ages of 40 and 50 who has several risk
factors for cardiovascular disease, he would probably benefit from
having a little bit – mind you, a little bit – of alcohol in his
daily diet.”
“That would be as much as one beer or a glass of wine at
least once a day.”
“On the other hand, a young adult who’s pretty fit and not obese
and has a good cholesterol profile will derive very few advantages
from moderate alcohol consumption.”
The problem – and the reason why health experts such as Keith
are loathe to issue a blanket recommendation for alcohol -- is that
once you begin consuming more than a couple of drinks a day, you end
up increasing other risks, such as high blood pressure, liver
disease and breast cancer, a risk that increases even among women
who drink moderately, Keith says.
Generally speaking, people best suited for moderate alcohol
consumption tend to be those between the ages of 40 and 50 with
cholesterol problems, arterial blockages or blood that clots too
easily.
Studies have repeatedly shown that alcohol has both
anticlotting properties as well as an effect on increasing HDL, the
so-called good cholesterol, both of which are considered major
factors behind coronary artery disease.
A recent Israeli study, for example, involving men aged 46 to
72, showed that consuming only one daily serving of a 12-ounce beer
produced significant changes in blood chemistry, including decreased
cholesterol levels, increased antioxidant levels, and a decrease of
fibrinogen, a clot-producing agent. These positive effects showed
up in 21 of the 24 patients who drank beer in the course of the
study.
Yet, even these factors do not add up to a strong enough case
for issuing a blanket recommendation for alcohol consumption.
Instead, Keith says, alcohol should be treated like any other
drug. And people who are considering increasing their levels of
consumption should first seek their doctor’s advice.
(Source: Dr. Robert Keith,
Alabama Cooperative Extension System Nutritionist, 334-844-3273.)
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