Fact verified: How harmful is a glass of wine a day?

The field of scientific research for alcohol seems somewhat disoriented at the moment, at least as far as public reports are concerned.

A study published in the scientific magazine „Nature” in March seems to offer some of the most convincing evidence that even average alcohol consumption can damage the brain.

After examining brain scans by more than 36,000 middle - aged and elderly people from Biobank in the United Kingdom, researchers found that 50 - year - olds who drank an average glass of 175 millilitra (6oz) or half liters of beer a day during the past year had brains that seemed 1.5 years older than those of other people who drank half of that amount or did not drink at all.

Brain aging grew with alcohol consumption, researchers write. The study is one of the largest to deal with the health impact of moderate drinking in the brain until now. Researchers defined the moderate “ “as up to 14 drinks a week and “light” as more than one drink a week, but less than seven. But many questions remain open.

Although the results of brain research seem direct at first glance, a little deeper research reveals how much we still don't know.

Patricia Molina, who runs the Alzheimer's Centre for Alcohol Abuse and Drugs at Louisiana State University, said it remained unclear what the effects of brain contractions for two years caused symptoms of aging in recognition and behavior.

Some evidence shows a link between losing the volume of the brain and damaging the capacity of recognition, she said. But it is also unaware of any study that ultimately shows a direct link between specific percentages of reduced brain volume and clinical manifestations that are evident to people or their doctors.

Molina said that the form of the study also made it difficult to answer questions about how its results are compared to contractions caused by activities and other diseases known to cause a reduction in brain matter, such as the lack of physical ability or Huntington's disease. “A met-analysis would be the closest way to getting to the answer,” said Molina. In other words, one would have to look at all the literature and analyze the results in a way that allowed such comparisons to be made.

Another reason why such comparisons are difficult to track, Molina said, is that various activities or diseases cause different contractions in different countries. Staying throughout the day and eating only processed foods, for example, can cause contractions in an area of the brain different from Huntington's disease.

Then there's the chicken-witness dilemma. Could it be that people who tend to drink alcohol regularly simply have less brain in general than those who choose to abstain? “This is a particular option,” said Molina. The only way to answer that question is to gather images of the brain from early life. ”

Researchers are seeking to address this question through a study of teen brain recognition, Molina said. This study traces changes in brain volumes over time as it collects information on the use of alcohol and drugs.

But isn't the red wine good for you?

The evidence that overdrinking is harmful to the body and the brain is final. But when it comes to moderate drinking, things get a little more complicated. A number of studies published over recent decades, including one presented just one day before your brain study, seem to claim that moderate drinking of alcohol can be good for you.

Analyzing the data received also through Biobank in the United Kingdom by some 312,000 current consumers, researchers found that consumption of alcohol equivalent to 150ml of women's daily meals and 300ml to men was linked to a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Jeanette Tetracult, a Yale medical professor who specializes in alcohol addiction, said it is important to read beyond titles.

After all, she said, the study has simply found that if you drink alcohol with food, you are less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than if you drink alcohol without food.

Critics of such studies also say that they often do not take into account significant socioeconomic factors and that advertising of red wine benefits is essentially unilateral. That is because people with higher socioeconomic status, who are often already healthier, at first, are more likely to report that they drink a glass of red wine a day than those who are not.

A report by the New York Times of 2018 revealed that researchers involved in a major 10-year study seeking to trace the effects of moderate consumption of alcohol in health were greatly weakened by the alcohol industry.

The $100m used for financing National Institute of Health study (NIH) was demanded mainly by leading actors in the alcohol industry, among them Anheuser - Bushch InBev. His principal author, a professor of medicine at Harvard, provided e - mail executives and conference calls that the results would benefit them.

When NIH investigators noticed suspicious practices, the study was interrupted. Although nothing ended by publishing, the situation brings attention to caring for the results that seem too good to be true.

So how careful do I have to be?

A major study of 2018 tried to resolve the alcohol - drinking debate: No level of alcohol consumption improves health, he said.

Using data from 195 countries over a 26-year period, the study offered the fullest assessment of the global burden of alcohol to date. But some scientists have pointed out flaws in the design of study. For example, instead of tracking their results in numbers, the authors traced the results using relative language. When they offered difficult figures, the level of damage seemed negotiable in the best case.

The risk of developing a alcohol-related health problem was 0.5% higher among people who drank one drink a day compared to those who did not drink. In a number of ways, the study found that 914 in 100,000 people between the ages of 15 and 95 would develop a disease within a year if they did not drink. That number increased by only four, 918 to 100,000 if they drank.

Given what we know today about alcohol consumption, Tetracul said she was not telling her patients to abstain completely. She said she can use brain study with patients who already have fundamental conditions that affect their recognition or their brain function as another means of counseling.

But I wouldn't necessarily use this data to try to change behavior to patients who don't really have health consequences and know what their potential risks are,” she said. I'm not telling all my patients that should abstain” / DW