"To your health"…it means something new now… A recent report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition points strongly to the conclusion that wine drinkers lead healthier lives than beer or liquor drinkers, or those with no clear preference. Needless to say, having written a great deal in the past about the pros and cons of alcohol consumption, the piece piqued my interest… The report-based on a University of North Carolina alumni study of 4500 men of similar socioeconomic status-concluded that the "wine snobs" among them exercised more, ate healthier, and were less likely to smoke than their beer and liquor loving (and even non-drinking) buddies. From these facts, they postulated that previous studies illustrating the healthy benefits of wine itself could be merely a reflection of the overall healthier lifestyle that wine drinkers apparently lead. But this study seems only to show that wine drinking is correlative to other healthy habits. It concludes nothing whatsoever about the benefits of the wine itself… In my opinion, a more revealing study would be to identify a large pool of people with similar lifestyle, eating, and exercise habits-then break them down by drinking preference and analyze the long-term health of each group. This would more clearly show the benefits (if any) of one type of beverage over another. Many in the medical community agree that wine is good for you, more or less regardless of your lifestyle-just look up what's known as the "French Paradox" and you'll see what I mean. But what I believe is that moderate amounts of any type of alcoholic beverage can be beneficial to the health of most people. In fact, in the May 2002 issue of Real Health, I wrote about a British study of both men and women indicating exactly that-measurable health benefits of mild, nonspecific alcohol consumption, especially for those over 50. So don't shy away from responsibly tipping a glass now and again. You'll be doing yourself some good no matter what's in it. Raising a glass to health,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD | 
