Stick to Your Drinking Schedule
A study done by the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center found that drinking one alcoholic beverage everyday reduces the risk of death in older adults. This was true only when the person drank just one beverage per day. When the amount was increased to three drinks per day, the drinking began to be damaging to one's health.
The study claims that drinking once per day reduces your risk of death by 28%. Drinking the three drinks daily increased a person's likelihood of death by 11%. Now it does seem sort of odd to be able to assign percentages for the likelihood of death based on a study like this, but this was one intense study. The San Francisco VA followed more than 12,000 subjects (50 and over) from all walks of life for 4 years. Such a huge sample does legitimize their claims about knowing people's percentage risk of death.
The most interesting result from this study is that having only a couple drinks per week is neither advantageous nor damaging. So if you know any older adults that already drink a couple times a week, tell them to up the ante to a drink a day, because it just might be beneficial.
-Calin Darabus (B)
Week 8
Update:
I originally said "12,000 smokers", when in fact this article has nothing to do with smoking, so I changed that. The source does not say if the study found one sort of beverage to be more beneficial than others, but I would imagine that wine is the best (which is why I picked that picture for this blog). Wine contains anti-oxidants that beer and spirits do not, which would likely make it the preferred drink. However, the study only generalizes it as one "drink" per day, what ever that may be.
posted by PWH @ 9:14 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
WoW, that is some surprising information, especially for college students. Did the article mention anything about the specific type of drink because I know a glass of wine is better than having a beer for anti-oxidents purposes.
that was my comment... above
Rachael Carlevale
This is so true. When my dad had his heart attack three years ago his cardiologist actually suggested he drink a glass of (red) wine with dinner. Like Rachael said red wine seems more beneficial as far as anti-oxidants go. I know, obviously, that red wine is good for the heart but do you know what other parts of the body that it's good for?
Crystal Cabral
Interesting. The study was done on smokers over 50 only? Was there another group tested that did not smoke, or perhaps a group of younger individuals? I wonder if there is any interaction between the smoking (which increases overall death rate, so a 28% increase for them might still be below a 'normal' average rate), age (50+ don't really do marathons anymore, which could put them a different level of risk certain diseases that the drink may help rid them of, whereas it would do little for people who exercise and are thus at lower risk) and drink rather than just the drink alone being the main factor.
[Nathan Beck, Group A]
Calin,
Awesome blog! My grandfather’s doctor also suggested he drink a glass of red wine every day. He also mentioned that French people, who drink red wine on a daily basis, live longer than Americans do, which could very well be due to the alcohol intake.
Sarah Bello
I wonder how this study worked really. It seems that those who drink , rarely drink just one drink a day. I wonder if the age when people start drinking affects health since your body changes over time and is affected in different ways as you get older.
Emily Bell
Great, article. I always heard the wine is good to drink in small doses, but it is real interesting to see that you see real positive results if you drink everyday. I wonder if it matters the kind of drink? I know red wine is supposed to be good for you but do you get the same benefits from other types of alcoholic beverages?
-Alex Pavidapha
Does this apply to all alcoholic beverages? I thought it was only red wine that was attributed to this. Either way it's great to know that there is some other justification for drinking alcohol than for fun. Also is there a certain age at which drinking a glass a day becomes beneficial? Or does it really only affect older individuals?
-Conor Stenerson
Who knew drinking was so good! Were they specific about the kinds of "drinks"? Is it beer they are talking about? hard alcohol? wine? I'd be curious to know which one is better for your health.
- Maura Mulvey
I have recently heard about a study similar to this, or maybe even this one from some of my peers. Some of them are from Europe and they justify their drinking wine at dinner with this study.
One thing they forgot to mention is that it helps in "older adults." I didn't know that part.
Shonneau L.
What causes of death specifically does drinking prevent or reduce? Just death overall regardless of cause? or was it death by cancer/heart failure or something else?
Nicholas Skvir
That is so interesting! Do you know what kind of drinks apply? How does the alcohol help? When should you start to drink a glass a day? So with an apple a day and a glass of wine a day, you will be golden!
-Alyson Paige
Calin,
This blog is very interesting. A few days ago, I read an article that said that women who have more than one drink a day have a greater chance of getting breast cancer. This is directly related to your article. On a personal note, do you really believe that a drink a day can reduce a person’s risk of death by 28%.
Saad Choudhry
This is really surprising info for us college kids. I have heard a lot about the red wine theory as well. I wonder, even though it has so many benefits of drinking everyday, does it outweigh the bad effects it could potentially cause?
-Alyssa Terestre
Nice article, but with these kind of experiments, one always wonders how much was the data manipulated. And also if the experiment could be repeated and still give the same answers. Do you know if they said what specific type of alcohol was beneficial?
- Julio Rodriguez.
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