The anti-alcohol lobby often lumps all types of alcoholic drinks together and argues that there is no responsible level of alcohol consumption. New research doubts this for wine.
Text: Ingrid Larmoyeur (The Wine Institute)| Image: Unsplash
Good news for wine lovers? New research presented by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) suggests that people who drink wine in moderation have a lower risk of death than those who mainly drink beer, cider or spirits.
The study
In the study, based on data from more than 340,000 UK adults between 2006 and 2022, moderate wine drinkers had about 21% less risk of dying from cardiovascular disease than non-drinkers or people consuming mainly other alcoholic drinks.
The researchers do stress that this is not direct evidence that wine itself is protective. Indeed, wine consumption often correlates with a certain lifestyle: wine is drunk more often with meals, in smaller quantities and in a social context. That overall picture - diet, pace of drinking and lifestyle - may play an important role.
In moderation
Of course, this does not mean that drinking more is better. On the contrary: higher alcohol consumption does increase health risks. But the study does show that moderate wine drinking within a healthy lifestyle may be different from alcohol consumption in general.
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