Days of Wine and Roses... Are they limited? |

You heard that drinking a glass or two of wine did wonders for our health?

Well, maybe it’s not a fact. (Don’t bank on it, though.)

We have, in this corner, Drs. Jennifer Maggs and Jeremy Staff of Penn State. Who examined 9137 folks born in 1958 (England, Scotland, and Wales, 51% female) who were among those included in the National Child Development Study. The data of (their) interest were folks between their ages of 23 and 55.

These folks smoked and drank. (That alone should make folks worry about any conclusions that can be drawn.) Moreover, only 1/3 of them didn’t smoke. But, Maggs and Staff assumed that drinking caused folks to smoke- so the health risks would not be properly evaluated without including the effects of smoking. (Not surprising, cancer was among the negative outcomes in their health analysis.)

That’s an amazing conclusion when their own observations of the data found that those who were among the low end of drinking (14 units a week or less- about 1 medium sized glass of wine daily; this is considered light to moderate drinking) and never smoked were the healthiest bunch of cohorts in the trial.

Then, there’s the other omissions- the evaluation of who exercised and who was a couch potato, for example. Or, whether folks drank copious quantities of coffee, whether they ate meat or were vegetarian. In other words, these two researchers (who, by my examination of their previous publications, have a bias against alcohol consumption) picked a conclusion – despite the facts. (Think climate change deniers.)

And, then, there’s another study, the Continuous Update Project, under the auspices of the American Institute of Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund. This is not really a study, but a massive data analysis; the results from some 119 studies covering some 12 million women around the world were analyzed. So, it’s hard to discern all the individual factors that come into play, when there are so many varied studies in the mix. (Moreover, we are dealing with correlation and not causation.)

We also should note that, in previous studies, women were found to have lower “good” wine tolerances than men. Instead of 1 or 2 glasses per day that were the safe values for men, the data from those studies indicated a glass of wine 4 or 5 times a week were the maximum “safe levels” for women.

This current analysis indicated that drinking 1 small glass of wine a day increased one’s breast cancer risks by 5% (for pre-menopausal women) and 9% (for post-menopausal women).

Except, this risk was countermanded if the subject engaged in vigorous exercise (such as running or biking). As a matter of fact, pre-menopausal women had 17% lower risks of cancer compared to the least active cohorts; it was only 10% improvement for post-menopausal women.

So, enjoy your wine. Just keep your consumption in reason. And, exercise (which is good for brain function, too!)

(This may be filed under do as I say and not as I do.)