Health
Benefits of Moderate Alcohol Consumption, Resveratrol, and Grape Seed Extract
Edited By Jonathan D.
Kantrowitz
Published by Tsadek Press
Copyright, Jonathan
Kantrowitz 2014
8.5 x 11, 97 pages
$10.95
2 Tsadek Press books $19.95
3 Tsadek Press books $24.95
Call 1-800-232--2224 to order a pdf of this title
The evidence of the benefits to the health of most people of moderate alcohol consumption and related supplements is overwhelming, as these reports of recent research demonstrate.
8.5 x 11, 97 pages
$10.95
2 Tsadek Press books $19.95
3 Tsadek Press books $24.95
2 Tsadek Press books $19.95
3 Tsadek Press books $24.95
Call 1-800-232--2224 to order a pdf of this title
The evidence of the benefits to the health of most people of moderate alcohol consumption and related supplements is overwhelming, as these reports of recent research demonstrate.
Table of Contents
Alcohol Consumption
Mortality Benefits
Heart Attack and Stroke Benefits
Cancer Benefits
Cognitive Decline/Dementia Benefits
Osteoporosis (Bone) Benefits
Arthritis Benefits
Quality of Life Benefits
Weight Benefits
Miscellaneous Benefits
Resveratrol
Alzheimer's and
Aging Benefits
Cancer Benefits
Heart Disease and Stroke Benefits
Weight Benefits
Miscellaneous Benefits
How Resveratrol Works
Grape
Seed Extract
Alzheimer's
Benefits
Cancer Benefits
Miscellaneous Benefits
Light
wine intake = longer life expectancy in men
Moderate
Drinking May Help Older Women Live Longer
Sample reports
Wine may boost life expectancy by 5 years
Long-term wine
consumption is related to cardiovascular mortality and life expectancy
independently of moderate alcohol intake
Drinking up to
half a glass of wine a day may boost life expectancy by five years—at least in
men—suggests research published in the Journal
of Epidemiology and Community Health.
The Dutch
authors base their findings on a total of 1,373 randomly selected men whose
cardiovascular health and life expectancy at age 50 were repeatedly monitored
between 1960 and 2000.
The researchers
looked into how much alcohol the men drank, what type it was, and over what
period, in a bid to assess whether this had any impact on the risks of their
dying from cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and from all
causes.
They also
tracked weight and diet, whether the men smoked, and for how long, and checked
for the presence of serious illness.
During the 40
years of monitoring, 1,130 of the men died. Over half the deaths were caused by
cardiovascular disease.
The proportion
of men who drank alcohol almost doubled from 45% in 1960 to 86% in 2000, with
the proportion of those drinking wine soaring from 2% to 44% during that
period.
The researchers
found that light long term alcohol consumption of all types—up to 20 g a day—
extended life by around two extra years compared with no alcohol at all.
Extended life expectancy was slightly less for those who drank more than 20 g.
And men who
drank only wine, and less than half a glass of it a day, lived around 2.5 years
longer than those who drank beer and spirits, and almost five years longer than
those who drank no alcohol at all.
Drinking wine
was strongly associated with a lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease,
cerebrovascular disease, and death from all causes.
These results
held true, irrespective of socioeconomic status, dietary and other lifestyle
habits, factors long thought to influence the association between wine drinking
and better health.
Light
wine intake = longer life expectancy in men
Drinking a
little alcohol every day, especially wine, may be associated with an increase
in life expectancy. That’s the conclusion of Dutch researchers who reported the
findings of their study at the American Heart Association’s 47th Annual
Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
The researchers
found that a light intake of alcohol (on average less than one glass per day)
was associated with a lower rate of cardiovascular death and death from all
causes. When compared to spirits and beer, consumption of small amounts of
wine, about a half a glass a day, was associated with the lowest levels of
all-cause and cardiovascular deaths.
"Our study
showed that long-term, light alcohol intake among middle-aged men was
associated not only with lower cardiovascular and all-cause death risk, but
also with longer life expectancy at age 50," said Martinette T. Streppel,
lead author of the study and a Ph.D. student in the Division of Human Nutrition
at Wageningen University and National Institute for Public Health and the
Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven, The Netherlands. "Furthermore, long-term
light wine consumption is associated with a further protective effect when
compared to that of light-to-moderate alcohol intake of other types."
Previous studies
have shown that light to moderate alcohol intake is associated with a lower
risk of cardiovascular death. However, it remained unclear whether a specific
beverage was associated with more benefit and whether the use of long-term
alcohol consumption was associated with increased life expectancy. Studies such
as this cannot definitively show whether the agent being studied has a causal
effect on health.
The Netherlands
study — called the Zutphen Study — involved a cohort of 1,373 men born between
1900 and 1920 who were surveyed in detail about alcohol consumption seven times
over 40 years. The participants, all from Zutphen, an industrial town in the
eastern part of the Netherlands, were followed until death or until the final
survey taken among survivors in mid-2000. The surveys included drinking habits,
dietary habits, body mass index, smoking habits and the prevalence of heart
attack, stroke, diabetes and cancer. The statistics on alcohol consumption were
adjusted to account for other risk factors.
The researchers
found that long-term, light alcohol intake of less than or equal to 20 grams
per day (1 glass of alcoholic beverage contains 10 grams of alcohol, 1 ounce =
~30 mL of alcoholic beverage) compared to no alcohol intake was associated with
a 36 percent lower relative risk of all-cause death and a 34 lower relative
risk of cardiovascular death. The average long-term daily intake of the men
throughout the 40-year study was six grams based on any alcohol intake of more
than zero and up to 20 grams. The long-term average intake of six grams of
alcohol is equal to one four-ounce beer, one two-ounce glass of wine or one
one-ounce glass of spirits, daily.
When the
researchers looked independently at wine consumption, the associated risk
reduction was greater. Participants who drank on average half a glass, or 1.5
ounces, of wine per day, over a long period, had a 40 percent lower rate of all-cause
death and a 48 percent lower incidence of cardiovascular death, compared to the
non-wine drinkers.
Researchers said
life expectancy was 3.8 years higher in those men who drank wine compared to
those who did not drink alcoholic beverages. Life expectancy of wine users was
more than two years longer than users of other alcoholic beverages. Men with a
long-term alcohol intake less than or equal to 20 grams per day had a
1.6-year-higher life expectancy, compared to those who consumed no alcohol.
Most of the
previous studies assessed alcohol intake at baseline; however, in this study
researchers collected detailed information seven times over 40 years.
"Consumption patterns usually change during life," Streppel said.
"This enabled us to study the effects of long-term alcohol intake on
mortality." Researchers found that the number of alcohol users nearly
doubled from 45 percent in 1960 to 85 percent in the 2000 survey. Average
alcohol consumption rose and then fell at various points during the study.
Users’ consumption was eight grams a day in 1960, then survivors’ consumption
was 18 grams a day in 1985, dropping to 13 grams per day in 2000. The
percentage of wine users increased during follow-up from 2 percent in 1960 to
more than 40 percent among the survivors in 2000. "One can speculate that
a protective effect of light alcohol intake could be due to an increase in
high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or to a reduction in blood
clotting, due to an inhibition of platelet aggregation," Streppel said.
Furthermore, red
wine consumption may have an additional health benefit because the polyphenolic
compounds contained in wine have been seen in animal to interfere with the
formation, progression and rupture of atherosclerotic plaques — the build-up of
fatty tissue in the arteries that can result in stroke or heart attack.
"Those
people who already consume alcoholic beverages should do so lightly (1 to 2
glasses per day) and preferably drink wine," Streppel said. "The
cardio-protective effects of alcohol and wine only held up for light alcohol
consumption in middle-aged men. Heavy alcohol consumption may cause accidents
and diseases such as cancer and cirrhosis of the liver, even though this was
not observed in our study. Since alcohol consumption can be addictive, starting
to drink alcohol because of its positive health benefits is not advised."
How alcohol or
wine might affect cardiovascular risk merits further research, but right now
the American Heart Association does not recommend beginning to drink wine or
any other form of alcohol to gain these potential benefits. The association
does recommend that to reduce your risk you should talk to your doctor about
lowering your cholesterol and blood pressure, controlling your weight, getting
enough physical activity and following a healthy diet and quit smoking, if you
smoke. There is no scientific proof that drinking wine or any other alcoholic
beverage can replace these conventional measures.
Moderate
Drinking May Help Older Women Live Longer
A study published
in Journal of the American Geriatrics
Society finds that moderate alcohol intake (1-2 drinks/day for 3-6
days/week, depending on alcoholic content) may lead to increased quality of
life and survival in older women. The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s
Health followed nearly 12,000 women in their 70’s over a 6 year period. The
group was comprised of non-drinkers, occasional drinkers and moderate drinkers.
The study found
that non-drinkers and women who rarely drank had a significantly higher risk of
dying during the survey period than did women who drank moderately. Of those
who survived, the women who drank the least reported the lowest health-related
quality of life. Previous studies have shown that women who have at least one
drink per day stand at a lower risk for cardiovascular disease and ischemic
stroke than non-drinkers.
“The results of
this study indicate that moderate alcohol intake in keeping with current
guidelines may carry some health benefits for older women,” says Dr. Julie Ellen
Byles, author of the study. This contrasts previous studies which have
suggested that moderate alcohol intake can be detrimental to older women and
may lead to accidents, cancers, even dementia.
The potential
causes of increased health and survival may be ingredients found in wine or
ethanol, the social and pleasurable benefits of drinking or the improved
appetite and nutrition that often accompanies modest alcohol intake. The author
notes that the study does not advocate non-drinkers to begin drinking. Changes
in diet need to be determined through consultation with a doctor due to the
potential complications of mixing alcohol and medication.
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