Moderate drinkers have a lower risk of premature death than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. This is according to a US study to be published shortly in the journal Alcoholism:Clinical and Experimental Research .
Also when taking into account other factors such as body weight, physical activity , smoking behaviour, social network , education level, income, etc., there is still a halving of the risk of premature death †
U-shaped relationship
Several scientific studies have shown that moderate drinkers have a lower risk of premature death than non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. The new American study examined to what extent the found 'U-shaped relationship' between alcohol consumption and death risk is maintained when correction is made for a large number of confounding factors (for example:gender, socio-economic status, marital status, drinking problems in the past, health problems, overweight, smoking behaviour, physical activity, etc.)
Results
As expected, all of the above factors of influenced the risk of death † However, the results of this comprehensive analysis indicate that after adjusting for all these factors, non-drinkers still had a 51 percent greater risk of premature death than moderate drinkers (1 to 3 glasses of alcoholic drink per day). Heavy drinkers were found to have a 45 percent greater risk of premature death than moderate drinkers.
The beneficial effect of moderate alcohol consumption on the risk of death is largely due to the beneficial effect of alcohol on the risk of cardiovascular disease †
