I’ll drink to that!

The Case for Drinking (All Together Now: In Moderation!)

Thirty years of research has convinced many experts of the health benefits of moderate drinking for some people. A drink or two a day of wine, beer or liquor is, experts say, often the single best nonprescription way to prevent heart attacks ? better than a low-fat diet or weight loss, better even than vigorous exercise. Moderate drinking can help prevent strokes, amputated limbs and dementia.

But moderate drinking also comes with some health risks, such as a slightly increased risk of breast cancer in women. And heavy drinking is accompanied by a such a fearful range of illness and catastrophe that policy makers seeking to create coherent health recommendations for the use of alcohol are stymied.
Should major diet and lifestyle recommendations actually begin to endorse moderate drinking, defined as one or two alcoholic drinks a day?

Thirty years ago, health officials were so uncomfortable with this idea that a federal agency tried to suppress early data on alcohol’s beneficial effects. Now, with the data long out of the bag, policymakers say this may be one of the few areas in medicine where general recommendations are simply not possible and individual doctors and patients will have to make decisions on their own.

Most physicians dance around this one. Despite overwhelming evidence that 1 drink a day (perhaps a nightly glass of wine) decreases mortality (especially heart disease and stroke), physicians fear recommending alcohol because of the risks of heavy drinking.

I will go out on a limb here. I do recommend moderate drinking. One or two drinks a day (no more) are appropriate for men after 40 and women after 50. While I recommend it, I have not done it myself (drinking about twice each week). Perhaps I should make this a New Year’s resolution – one glass of wine each evening. I will let you know.