If you don't drink, should you start for health reasons? And if you drink only occasionally, will you be healthier if you start drinking every day?
Everyone knows that nondrinkers live longer than binge drinkers. But studies have shown that people who drink in moderation—defined as one drink a day for women, two a day for men—live the longest of all. Which of course raises the classic question: Is this correlation or causation?
It's easy to think of reasons why the kind of people who like to drink in moderation might live longer than nondrinkers. It could be that moderate drinkers are laid-back types who are less likely to experience stress. Or maybe the friendship bonds forged by social drinkers produce health benefits that outweigh the health costs of alcohol consumption.
But new research suggests that alcohol actually enhances health directly. This week's issue of Time features an article by Dr. Sanjay Gupta about new research out of Denmark suggesting that moderate drinking may confer cardiovascular benefits that rival those of excercise itself. The protective effect only applies once you're old enough to be at significant risk for heart disease. But if you're older than, say, 45, drinking reduces your risk. Like exercise, drinking increases good cholesterol and keeps your circulatory plumbing unclogged. And the two have a compounded protective effect when practiced together.
Here's the risk breakdown:
Highest risk: people who don't drink and don't exercise
Medium risk: people who do one but not the other have a 30 percent decreased risk of heart disease
Lowest risk: people who drink moderately and exercise had a 50 percent decreased risk
It seems that speakers of Romance languages have had it right all along: Their word for "cheers" is "santé"/"salute"/"salud"—literally, "To your health!" Of course, Spanish speakers use the same word for when you sneeze, which can sometimes create confusion. Which is why when I sneeze, my friends from Mexico say "Cheers!"
