Moderate Drinkers Less Likely to Develop Deadly Diseases, Study Finds

Though beverage type was not a factor with certain ailments, wine was particularly effective in lowering the risk of heart disease
Jacob Gaffney
Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008
A study published in the December/January 2008 issue of medical journal Angiology has shown further support to the belief that drinking wine responsibly helps reduce the risk of heart disease. The scientists also found that moderate alcohol consumption, in general, is linked to a lower risk of other diseases as well, such as type-2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Study co-author Dr. Dimitri Mikhailidis of the department of clinical biochemistry at the Royal Free Hospital in London, said that the purpose of the study was to obtain an alcohol “dose-related” risk for several diseases, which is uncommon among studies of this kind. “There is no point in reducing the risk of one serious condition if you increase that of another one,” said Mikhailidis of the study’s design.

The study looked at 4,153 adults in Greece who are participants in a larger, ongoing study that focuses on the identification and treatment of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of disorders that may lead to heart disease and diabetes. The subjects were chosen from four hospitals and 22 healthcare centers across Greece (the nine other researchers listed as the study co-authors work in some of these treatment centers).

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