Does drinking alcoholic beverages provide any benefit at all?

Businessweek on Aug 30 reported a study saying that drinking two or three glasses of wine, beer or cocktails each day helped adults live longer than teetotalers.

The statement does not accurately tell readers what the study really found.  The study led by Charles Holahan and colleagues from the University of Texas in Austin and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California found merely an association between consumption of alcoholic beverages and mortality.

Holahan et al. reported in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research that older adults who did not drink at all were 49 percent more likely to die during the 20-year study than those who drank moderately.

In response to studies like the current one, critics have pointed out that some previous studies if not all deliberately classified study participants who used to drink, but quit drinking because of health problems as non-drinkers.

But according to businessweek, the association remained significant even after the researchers excluded those problem drinkers and people with health problem like obesity.

The researchers did find that heavy drinkers were 42 percent more likely to die compared with moderate drinkers.

A health observer said the study is observational.  It is not a trial, that is, it does not prove the association is causal.  Although it is possible that drinking alcoholic beverages may help health, but it is also possible that healthy people may be more likely to drink alcohol.  It remains unknown which causes which.

Alcoholic beverages are recognized by the U.S. government as human carcinogens. Drinking alcoholic beverages can increase risk of cancers such as breast cancer, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer.  Drinking can also cause liver damage and brain shrinkage among other things.

One obvious danger is the metabolite of alcohol, which is an aldehyde - a reactive compound that can damage cells, boosting cancer risk.

American Heart Association warned people not to start drinking alcohol if they do not drink. For those who have started drinking, they should drink in moderation.

By David Liu