Gaining Perspective on Losing Weight - Should I drink to that?

One of the most frequently read articles in the online version of Time magazine, January 24, 2008 was one that delighted many.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported that a “a new study of cardiac health has yielded a happy formula: start with moderate exercise, at least thirty minutes to one hour a day and add moderate alcohol consumption.”

Now that’s health news we can all live with, right? Eating healthfully, exercising regularly, flossing daily and getting a good night’s sleep were unexciting rules our mothers taught us. But who would have dreamed that alcohol would be a recommended addition to our fitness program?

The study, first reported in the European Heart Journal, involved 12,000 people over a 20-year period and was conducted by Denmark's National Institute of Public Health. Dr. Morten Gronbaek, epidemiologist, summarizes the results: alcohol and exercise affect the body in similar ways, and they reinforce each other when both are practiced. Evidently, consumption of moderate amounts of alcohol increases good cholesterol and clears out the circulatory system.

The population under study was divided into four groups: nonexercisers who did not drink, nonexercisers who drank, exercisers who did not drink and exercisers who drank moderately. The group that exercised regularly and drank moderately had the greatest benefit in terms of reduced risk of heart disease (50 percent). The nonexercisers who drank moderately had about the same reduction in risk (30 percent) as the teetotaling exercisers. Besides suggesting that consuming a drink a day was equivalent to exercising, the study also suggested that combining the two—exercise and moderate drinking—provided the greatest benefit.

A couple of caveats, though, are included in the study. First, moderate drinking is one to two drinks a day for men and one drink a day for women. Second, the study is relevant for only an older population since there is no proof that alcohol will reduce the risk of heart disease before age 45. And third, women who are at risk for breast cancer need to avoid alcohol because of increasing evidence of the link between the two.

In my case, I am careful about consumption of alcohol because I seldom have the calories to spare. One drink can steal a couple of hundred calories from my daily budget of 1,500. Still, the study is intriguing. What’s your take on it?



"As I see it, every day you do one of two things; build health or produce disease within yourself." Adelle Davis