Health Discovery: Let’s Drink–in Moderation–to Your Health

If you are a temperate drinker who was delighted to learn that studies have linked moderate alcohol consumption to a longer life and fewer heart problems, now there’s more good news to savor: Alcohol also may help prevent physical disabilities as you age. A study published in the January American Journal of Epidemiology found that healthy people age 50 and over who drink alcohol regularly but moderately are much less likely than teetotalers to develop physical disabilities that hinder everyday activities such as walking or doing chores.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles analyzed the drinking habits of 4,276 men and women ages 50 to 74, who were sorted into groups: abstainers who had fewer than 12 drinks in the past year, light to moderate drinkers who averaged fewer than 15 drinks a week, and heavy drinkers who downed more than 15 drinks a week. A drink was defined as a can of beer, a glass of wine or a shot of hard liquor. After five years, the light to moderate drinkers were 23 percent less likely to have developed physical disabilities or to have died, compared with the abstainers or heavy drinkers. Arun Karlamangla, M.D., lead author of the study, says the benefit may be tied to the fact that alcohol helps protect against hardening of the arteries, a condition that can lead “to more rapid aging and a gradual decline in speed, thinking, muscle mass and strength, which in turn can lead to … disabilities.”

“The results are not surprising because the healthiest people are those who drink cautiously and continue to drink regularly,” says Frederic C. Blow, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School who has done extensive research on substance abuse. But Blow warns that older people need to consider their medical conditions and medications before they take up drinking.

Joan Rattner Heilman writes about health and consumer issues.