If you’re reading this post under a cloud of guilt for overimbibing, while welcoming the New Year, you may take heart. What moralists would call profligate behavior, may not be as injurious as these teetotalers would have you believe. For example, the relationship between the consumption of wine and potential health benefits was investigated in 1979 by St. Leger et al., who discovered that among a sample of affluent nations, France had the lowest rate of cardiac mortality in spite of the high-fat French diet. Their research asserted:
The principal finding is a strong and specific negative association [correlation] between [coronary] heart-disease deaths and alcohol consumption. This is shown to be wholly attributable to wine consumption.
This conundrum, known as the French paradox, was catapulted into prominence in 1994 with a publication titled, Does Diet or Alcohol Explain the French paradox? The prospect that something as pleasurable as a glass of wine a day could result in health benefits naturally caught widespread headlines. An article in The New York Times on December 28, 1994 titled, “Wine for the Heart: Over All, Risks May Outweigh Benefits,” summarized the study results just in time for New Year celebrations. Data from 19 developed nations over a period spanning 1965 to 1988, suggested that drinking wine on a regular basis reduces the risk of heart attacks, but it cautioned that the benefits apply only to moderate consumption. Following this publication, there was a flood of studies investigating various relationships between alcohol consumption and heart health that arose out of the attempts to answer a variety of related questions:
• Do the benefits of wine consumption extend to all alcoholic drinks?
• How do the benefits of red wine compare with those of white wine?
• At what levels of alcohol consumption do the benefits diminish?
• Are the levels of beneficial consumption the same for men and women?
Following the discovery of a positive correlation between moderate wine consumption and a lower risk of mortality from heart disease, researchers began to search for a causal link. Suspecting that alcohol was a prime contributor to the effect, many researchers examined the relationship between other alcoholic beverages and heart disease.As they dug more deeply into the data, researchers discovered it was much more complicated than originally imagined. The effect was different in some respects for wine than for other beverages and the effect for red wine was much greater than for white wine. The effect also depended on whether the alcohol was consumed on a regular basis or whether an equivalent amount of alcohol was consumed in “binge” sessions. There was a significant difference of opinion on the daily consumption at which the heart health benefits of alcohol consumption began to reverse. It was found also that the effect differed by gender and varied from individual to individual.
In a 2006 meta-analysis of 4235 studies on the topic, the authors, Paul Ronksley et al. stated:
Corrao et al. reported a J-shaped relation between alcohol intake and coronary heart disease, whereas the review by Maclure described this relation as L-shaped because he did not observe any increase in coronary heart disease risk associated with higher alcohol consumption. Our up-dated meta-analysis supports the latter association for coronary heart disease, with a 25–35% risk reduction for light to moderate drinking that also is present with heavier drinking. … Furthermore, the association of alcohol consumption is complex and differs by stroke subtype, with a slightly lower risk of ischaemic [cardiac] stroke but higher risk of haemorrhagic stroke.
In addressing causation, the authors of that meta-analysis stated:
The association between alcohol consumption and decreased cardiovascular risk is not in question, as additional research has not changed this conclusion. Clearly, observational studies cannot establish causation.
Subsequent research into the medical analysis of the chemical processes underlying the interaction of alcohol with the body suggests that alcohol raises the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) preventing the oxidation of the low-density cholesterol (LDL) that forms plaque in the arteries of the heart. Furthermore, the phenolic compounds in the skins of red grapes are believed to contribute beneficially to the prevention of such plaque formation. Medical research continues, but confounding variables force scientists to take extra care in drawing causal connections. Notwithstanding these caveats, the evidence seems to suggest that moderate drinking of alcoholic beverages, (and especially red wine) can be a health benefit if the participant does not fall prey to addiction. Dr. Pelletier, in his 2019 book, Change Your Genes, Change Your Life asserts:
The health benefits of red wine have been well documented in recent years. Studies have revealed that those who drink a glass of red wine a day are less likely to develop dementia or cancer. And there is also evidence that it could help regulate blood sugar–which could mean that a daily glass of red wine could help people with type 2 diabetes keep their blood glucose levels under control. This is the case because red wine contains polyphenols, which in some studies is shown to help the body control its glucose levels . …Researchers have found that the polyphenols in wine bind to a molecule or receptor that’s involved in the regulation of blood sugar. Those who claim that drinking wine is good for your health strongly suggest only a moderate intake of just one or two small glasses a day, which is best taken with a meal.
Other research shows that moderate drinkers in general live longer than nondrinkers and heavy drinkers. However, nothing is simple in the world of clinical nutrition. A study of 53,000 adults who participated in a United Kingdom health survey … calls into question the widely held assumption that moderate alcohol consumption confers health benefits in most adults.”
So, if your head is spinning from last night’s celebrations, you can find some consolation in the knowledge that even the teetotalers’ heads are spinning, as they attempt to draw conclusions about the risks and benefits of a bender. (For a more detailed analysis of the correlation between alcohol consumption and health risks, see Intelligence: Where we Were, Where we Are, & Where we’re Going, chapter 18)
