We know that drinking alcohol to excess is terrible for our bodies on multiple levels, leading to everything from alcoholism to liver failure. However, there’s something to be said for enjoying alcohol in moderation, and a new study has proven that those who do so may stand a better chance of living to the age of 90.
- Drinking a little bit could be better for our health than drinking nothing at all. The study, performed by researchers at Maastricht University Medical Centre in The Netherlands and published in the journal Age and Ageing, looked at data from more than 5,000 men and women born between 1916 and 1917 that was gathered by the Netherlands Cohort Study. The results were pretty interesting.
- Participants were surveyed on their drinking habits. They were asked about their drinking from 1986, when they were in their 60s, and then followed for the next 30-ish years, until they reached 90. The results? About 34% of the women and 16% of the men actually lived to the age of 90, with those who drank 5–15 g/d of alcohol having “the highest probability of reaching 90.”
- Basically, we’re talking about a glass of wine a day here. The amount of daily alcohol that gave participants the highest chance of reaching 90 was the equivalent of a small glass of wine (small being the key word here), half a pint of beer, or a pub measure of a spirit, Unilad reports. “We found alcohol intake was positively associated with the probability of reaching 90 years of age in both men and women,” explained researcher Dr Piet A. van den Brandt, as per MailOnline. Wine was associated with women reaching 90 but not with men. Instead, intake of gin, brandy and whisky increased their longevity.
- Drinking more than that had the opposite effect. Those who drank more than 15g of alcohol a day ended up with higher premature mortality rates and other adverse effects. That’s right, downing a bottle of red wine every night after work is NOT a good look.
- Researchers are flummoxed as to why this happens. The scientists who performed the study can’t really explain why small amounts of alcohol have a positive effect on life expectancy, though they think it could have something to do with hormesis, where a small amount of a substance that can be toxic in large doses is actually beneficial in smaller ones.
- If you don’t drink, this doesn’t mean you should start. Researchers were clear to point out that while drinking a small amount may help people reach 90, that doesn’t necessarily mean that those people are healthier. “This should not be used by anyone who does not currently drink alcohol as motivation to start drinking,” Dr. van den Brandt said.
