14 DAY TRIAL // It's common knowledge that drinking wine can be beneficial to your health, but its long-term effects on the human body have never before been analyzed at such a large scale. In a study lasting for 40 years, between 1960 and 2000, Dutch researchers monitored the life expectancy and drinking habits of more than 1,373 randomly selected men, with regular check-ups one or several times per year. The long-term study sought to understand the exact correlation between cardiovascular health and people's overall death risk, from related conditions.
In a scientific study published ahead of print in the latest issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the authors say that analysis of the results revealed that drinking just half a glass of wine per day might actually be very beneficial to men, in that they could live, on average, about five years longer than those who did not drink wine daily. However, they warn, the effect does not stack up, meaning that, if males drink one or two glasses per day, they will not live ten to 20 years more. In fact, it's very likely that they'll die sooner, on account of alcohol-related conditions.
During the 40 years of monitoring, the researchers looked at how much alcohol the men drank, what type of liquor, as well as at how often they did it. Their main goal was to determine which drinking habit was the worse, and which left the smallest “footprint” on the body. The study was also aimed at determining what kind of alcohol consumption led to the development of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular diseases, and if this could be prevented, PhysOrg reports.
More than 600 men died of cardiovascular diseases over the 40 years, roughly half of the total number of 1,130 deaths. From 1960 to 2000, the percentage of males who drank alcohol nearly doubled, from 45 to 86, a phenomenon that was immediately associated with an increased number of deaths from booze-related illnesses. While only two percent of participants drank wine at the beginning of the research, more than 44 percent did so in 2000. The conclusion of the study was that moderate alcohol consumption, of up to 20 grams per day, could increase life expectancy by at least two years.
Those who didn't drink at all had a lower life expectancy than moderate or casual drinkers, whereas those who consumed more than 20 grams of alcohol per day had a life expectancy that was a bit lower than that of moderate drinkers. In addition, those who only took in small amounts of wine, without any beer or spirits, lived on average five years longer than those who drank nothing. They also lived up to 2.5 years longer than those who consumed beer and spirits.