Several studies have recently been published that push back at the idea that all alcohol intake has negative health effects. Actual results are more nuanced. High alcohol intake is always harmful, but low to moderate intake appears to be protective for a number of health conditions. In fact, low to moderate intake appears to be better for health than totally abstaining from alcohol.
Similar to research reported in the last post, another recent study looking at alcohol consumption found that low to moderate alcohol consumption has beneficial health effects (is protective). Again, a J curve finding that low to moderate intake best delays biological aging (as measured by biomarker measurements), then alcohol never or rarely consumed, and finally that high intake was harmful - it canceled any alcohol protective effects. In other words, low to moderate alcohol consumption slows down aging.
The most beneficial effects were at 1 to 2 glasses of wine per day. These associations were predominantly in men, and these effects went hand in hand with eating a Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is eating a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, beans, and olive oil. The researchers thought that compounds such as polyphenols in wine could play a role in why low to moderate alcohol consumption was beneficial.
From Medical Life Sciences News: Moderate wine intake tied to slower biological aging in men
A large Italian cohort study suggests that moderate wine intake, as defined within a traditional Mediterranean diet, may be associated with slightly slower biological aging in men, whereas total alcohol intake showed a different, less favorable pattern.
Men who consumed wine at levels consistent with the Mediterranean Diet (approximately 125-500 mL per day) showed a modest association with slower biological aging compared to abstainers. Specifically, their Δage values were lower, indicating that they were biologically younger than their CA. The strongest effect was observed at around 170 mL/day, which is roughly one to two glasses, where biological aging was reduced by approximately 0.34 years.
Moderate wine drinking showed positive effects, whereas both minimal and maximal consumption showed similar negative or neutral outcomes. This indicates that even though moderate wine drinking likely has positive effects, excessive wine drinking cancels these effects. In addition, total alcohol from all sources had no similar results to moderate wine drinking. Therefore, when alcohol is consumed in large quantities, it is associated with accelerated BA. So, not all beverage sources of alcohol have the same effects.
Interestingly, these associations were predominantly observed in men. Women did not show significant differences in biological aging across wine consumption categories.