A preview of research being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session later this month reveals that the health effects of alcohol don’t just depend on how much you drink, but what you drink.
To investigate the adverse health effects of alcohol, researchers turned to the United Kingdom’s Biobank study—a vast treasure trove of data tracking the health of more than 340,000 adults. When they enrolled in the study, participants answered detailed questionnaires about a variety of activities, including their drinking habits.
Researchers divided people into four groups based on their alcohol consumption—never/occasional, low, moderate, and high. The never/occasional group included everyone who drank less than 1.5 drinks per week. The low group included men who drank between 1.5 drinks per week and 1.5 drinks per day, and women who drank between 1.5 drinks per week and 0.5 drinks per day. The moderate group included men who drank between 1.5 to three drinks per day and women who drank 0.5 to 1.5 drinks per day. Finally, daily consumption of more than three drinks for men and more than 1.5 drinks for women was considered high.
Read more: “The Neuroscience of Wine”
So how did everyone do?
Compared to the relative teetotalers, those who consumed high amounts of alcohol were 24 percent more likely to die from any cause, 36 percent more likely to die from cancer, and 14 percent more likely to die from heart disease. Bad news for heavy drinkers, but not exactly surprising.
A closer examination of the low and moderate cohorts, however, revealed something interesting. Low and moderate drinkers who preferred beer, cider, or liquor showed an increased risk of death, but those who drank a similar amount of wine showed a significantly lower risk of death.
Zooming in, researchers found that moderate wine drinkers had a 21 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease in particular—even compared to those who never or rarely drank. In other words, drinking low to moderate amounts of wine appears to be better for your heart health than not drinking at all.
But why?
Researchers offered a slew of possibilities to explain the healthier hearts of wine drinkers. While the questionnaires didn’t delve into granular questions about preferred vintages, red wine contains polyphenols and antioxidants that could bolster cardiovascular health. Additionally, they said, it’s possible that the meals typically consumed with wine may be healthier than the meals typically consumed with beer, cider, and liquor. (It’s tempting to think socioeconomic factors are at play, but researchers controlled for those effects along with several other demographic measures in the study.)
“Taken together, these factors suggest that the type of alcohol, how it is consumed, and the associated lifestyle behaviors all contribute to the observed differences in mortality risk,” study author Zhangling Chen of Central South University in China said in a statement.
So go ahead and uncork a bottle of red, toast to your health, and drink roughly 1.5 glasses—you deserve it. 
Enjoying Nautilus? Subscribe to our free newsletter.
Lead image: ABInternational / Shutterstock
