Why drinking wine is good for you
It turns out drinking a glass of red can be good for you – but only if you’re over 50, a new study suggests.
While research has shown a little run in with wine can be good for you to offset age related diseases that typically emerge in middle age, researchers are saying the benefits that come for this age group has been miscommunicated in the past.
The Boston Medical Centre in Massachusetts found that while 1,500 deaths are prevented each year by alcohol that a majority of these lives “saved” were adults aged 65 and over.
Medical professional, Dr Naimi told the Daily Mail that there was a widely believed myth that alcohol was good for you up until 10 years ago.
“It's not that alcohol can't be enjoyed. It's one thing to say that and another thing to allege it's good for your health,” he explained.
The expert noted people in the US begin drinking in their early 20’s but research cases do not use under 50-year-olds.
40 per cent of deaths every year in America due to alcohol are before the age of 50.
“This shows that people who live to age 50 and drink presently are "survivors" - if you will - of their drinking,” Dr Naimi said.
“They might have been healthier or have had safer drinking patterns. They're not an appropriate group to compare to non-drinkers.”
Research examined alcohol related deaths between 2006 and 2010 in the US, noting that out of the 88,000 deaths every year – nearly 36 per cent of those were between the ages of 20-49.
However, alcohol related deaths in the 50-65 age range was at 4.5 per cent.
People older than 65 with alcohol related deaths was at 35 per cent.
Contrastingly, there was a huge spike in deaths prevented by alcohol among senior citizens at 80 per cent.
Dr Naimi said alcohol has a beneficial impact on the body as well as negative, particularly for cardiovascular diseases and cholelithiasis, commonly referred to as gallstones.
Alcohol though, still causes more deaths than it prevents, saying younger people are “more likely to die from alcohol consumption than they are to die from a lack of drinking.”
However, older people are more likely to see the health benefits of moderate drinking.
Previous studies have shown that drinking little alcohol lowers the cholesterol levels in bile, thereby reducing the risk of gallstones developing.