Beer, wine, spirits and subjective health

Abstract

Study objective-To examine the association between intake of diVerent types of alcoholic beverages and self reported subjective health. Design-Cross sectional health survey with assessment of intake of beer, wine and spirits (at last non-weekend day), smoking habits, social networks, physical activity, body mass index, educational level, presence of chronic disease, and self reported health. Setting-WHO Copenhagen Healthy City Survey, Denmark. Participants-4113 men and 7926 women aged 18 to 100 years. Main results-Of the 12 039 subjects, 8680 reported their health as optimal, and 3359 reported a suboptimal health. After controlling for the covariates, the relation between total alcohol intake and the proportion reporting suboptimal health was J shaped. Heavy drinkers of any of the three types of alcoholic beverages had a higher prevalence of suboptimal health than non-drinkers. However, only light (1-2 glasses of wine yesterday) and moderate (3-5) wine drinkers had significantly lower odds ratios for suboptimal health-0.72 (95% confidence limits; 0.56 to 0.92) and 0.65 (0.49 to 0.87), respectively-when compared with non-wine drinkers. Moderate beer or spirits drinkers did not differ significantly from non-drinkers of these beverages with regard to prevalence of suboptimal health. Consistently, beer preference drinkers had an odds ratio of 1.50 (1.25 to 1.80) for suboptimal health compared with wine preference drinkers. Conclusions-A light to moderate wine intake is related to good self perceived health, whereas this is not the case for beer and spirits. The causal relations creating this association are unknown and should be considered when interpreting the relation between diVerent types of alcoholic beverages and subsequent morbidity and mortality. (J Epidemiol Community Health 1999;53:721-724)

Psychological distress and fair/poor health among adults with arthritis: state-specific prevalence and correlates of general health status, United States, 2007

“…Other studies from around the world have found moderate alcohol consumption to be positively related to general health status [30][31][32][33][34][35] and heavy drinking or 'intoxication' negatively related [30][31][32]35 . Our definition of heavy drinking (2+ drinks per day for men, 1+ drink per day for women) would be considered low to moderate alcohol intake in other studies [32][33][34][35] which is likely related to the cultural perceptions regarding alcohol in different countries. The relationship between alcohol intake and general health may also vary by gender 31,[34][35] and the type of alcohol ingested (e.g.…”

“…The relationship between alcohol intake and general health may also vary by gender 31,[34][35] and the type of alcohol ingested (e.g. wine, beer, hard liquor) [32][33]35 . We found no differences by gender [data not shown], however, we cannot assess the independent effect of different types of alcohol due to the question format used in the BRFSS.…”

Moderate Alcohol Consumption Reduces Urinary 8-Hydroxydeoxyguanosine by Inducing of Uric Acid.

“…Some researchers have reported findings that wine drinking was more effective or that wine drinking alone reduces the risk of CHD and other causes of mortality when they compared it with drinking of other alcohol beverages 45,46) . Since red wine contains antioxidant flavonoids 47) and they may prevent oxidative stress, wine may have the ability to reduce the risk.…”

Regular Wine Consumption in Chronic Heart Failure

“…Moderate wine drinkers reported better lifestyles and metabolic parameters compared with nondrinkers, 42 lower incidence of HF, 3 lower mortality, 43 and a better perceived health [43][44][45] and psychological functioning. 46 The differences remained statistically significant after adjustment for several variables, and even within populations of the same social class.…”