A study finds that enjoying guilt in moderation may not significantly increase the risk of an early death.
Women may be able to indulge in a large glass of wine a day, on average, without their risk of dying early increasing significantly, according to a new scientific review by researchers in Canada.
Men may be able to drink an average of nearly two large glasses of wine per day without an increased risk of death compared to non-drinkers.
The findings came from a review of 107 studies involving more than 4.8 million people.
However, the review’s authors say the studies included have multiple flaws, and they still advise that moderate amounts of alcohol carry a small risk of serious diseases such as cancer.
Women may be able to enjoy an average large glass of wine per day without significantly increasing their risk of dying early, based on a new scientific review.
The researchers compared the odds of dying among non-drinkers in the studies to the odds of dying for drinkers with low, medium, high or very high alcohol consumption.
It was found that women who drank in moderation, and fell into the low alcohol consumption group, had no significant increase in the risk of death compared to women who did not drink alcohol.
These women drank less than 25g of alcohol per day – roughly three units in the UK, which is the equivalent of a large glass of wine, or three small measures of gin.
Men were no more likely to die than non-drinkers if they drank little or moderate amounts.
This included men who drank less than 45g of alcohol a day – about five and a half units a day in the UK, which comes to three 330ml bottles a day on average, or not too far from two. Big glasses of wine.
However, the researchers say the results should not be used for safe drinking guidelines, due to the study’s flaws.
In 86 of the studies examined, non-drinkers included former drinkers, who may have stopped drinking because it already led to health problems, which likely skewed the results.
Drinkers may be falsely shown to be as healthy as non-drinkers because some of those who don’t drink are actually sick, which is why they don’t consume alcohol.
The review, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, found that the risk of premature death became significantly higher after a certain alcohol threshold, which was lower for women than for men.
For men who drank 45 to 64 grams of alcohol, up to eight units a day, or four pints of low-strength beer, the risk of early death was found to be 15 percent higher than that of non-drinkers.
The risk of premature death was 21 percent higher for women who drank 25 to 44 grams of alcohol per day, which is the equivalent of more than one large glass of wine.
Dr Tim Stockwell, study co-author and former director of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, said: ‘This review was set up to look at the flaws in studies and how they bias estimates of the health risks of alcohol.
For example, more than 80 percent of the studies in the review counted people who gave up alcohol due to ill health as abstainers.
Compensating for these types of errors has greatly reduced the emergence of the health benefits of moderate drinking.
Stronger studies are needed to determine the exact levels of drinking at which men and women are most likely to die prematurely.
A spokesperson for the International Responsible Drinking Alliance, which is made up of major alcohol companies including Heineken and Diageo, said: ‘These findings are consistent with the broader evidence base which tends to show that moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with health benefits in certain adults with a protective effect against Cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
We do not recommend that anyone drink alcohol for its potential health benefits.
Those who have specific questions about their drinking are encouraged to consult their healthcare professionals.
“Together, they can determine what’s best, and for some people, not drinking at all may be the best option.”
