People who drink alcohol of all types are more likely to feel healthy than those who abstain completely, according to a Spanish study released today. For moderate drinkers, the more they consume the healthier they feel, according to the research published in the Journal of Epidemiological and Community Health.
Links between the amount and type of alcohol consumed and the subjective rather than actual state of health of 19,000 Spanish adults were studied by researchers at the Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health in Madrid.
Almost 57 per cent of those questioned said they drank alcohol regularly, mostly in moderate amounts of one to four drinks a day. Regardless of their choice of drink, the adults in the survey reported better health the more they drank.
Most in the study chose wine as their preference, but the results also hold good for beer and spirits drinkers. Beyond the age of 45 the effects go into reverse, with more wine drinkers reporting ill health than among those who are younger.
These findings clash with results from a similar study in Denmark, where wine is named as the "healthiest" drink but with higher consumption leading to worse health. A group of 693 Danish men and women were studied by researchers.
Wine drinkers appear to have higher social status and intelligence than beer drinkers with notable differences in IQ scores between the two groups, the study revealed.
"Our results suggest that wine drinking is associated with optimal social, intellectual and personality functioning, while beer drinking is associated with sub-optimal characteristics," according to the authors of the Danish report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The researchers add that the higher social status of wine drinkers is responsible for the better health reported by this group, rather than the effects of the wine itself.
The Spanish researchers suggest that cultural differences between Denmark and Spain may be the cause of the discrepancy between the two studies. Most alcohol is drunk at mealtimes in Spain, whereas this is not the case in Nordic countries, and diet may also play a part.
These two studies add to a growing collection of research into the possible health benefits of moderate drinking. Several studies claim that one or two glasses of red wine a day could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack.