Toast to a long life! One drink a day is good for women
Another day, another study. This one happens to be toast-worthy.
A new study out of Harvard has found an alcoholic beverage a day may help middle-aged women age better. In fact, moderate drinkers have a better chance at staying healthy as they age than teetotalers.
This isn’t completely new news. We’ve long heard a glass or two of wine can be good for the heart, and may have anti-aging properties. This study, published in the journal PLoS Medicine, further confirms earlier research.
The study followed 14,000 (mostly Caucasian) women, beginning in 1976. It found women in their late 50s who averaged three to 15 alcoholic drinks a week had a 28 per cent greater chance of aging “successfully,” being free from chronic illness, disability and cognitive decline, at the age of 70.
International Business Times reports the “benefits of light drinking can include reduced inflammation, strengthened resistance to insulin and healthier cholesterol levels — all factors that contribute to chronic diseases.”
[See also: Wine is a natural sunscreen]
“Moderation” is the key word in this study. Women who concentrated their weekly drinking to one of two days — drinking more heavily on the weekend, for example — didn’t exhibit the benefits shown in those who spread out their intake throughout the week.
Qi Sun, the study’s lead author, is quick to warn against using alcohol as your entire healthy aging routine.
"If you are physically active, if you have a healthy body weight at midlife, you can have much better odds of achieving successful aging," Sun said. "You don't have to use moderate alcohol consumption as a way to help achieve healthy aging.”
While this observational study can’t offer conclusive “hows” and “whys” of alcohol’s pro-longevity factors, it does seem to give the thumbs up when it comes to a daily glass of red or white.
"I think there's enough data to say that drinking a small glass of wine a day is good for you," Arun Karlamanga, associate professor of geriatrics at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, told CNN.
Toast to a long life, ladies!
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