Alkoholverächter und Schnapsdrosseln sitzen im gleichen Boot

Bei älteren Frauen macht die Verteufelung jeglichen Alkoholkonsums aus gesundheitlicher Sicht keinerlei Sinn.

Eine an der renommierten Harvard Medical School in den Jahren 1999 und 2001 unter Einschluß von 11.000 Krankenschwestern durchgeführte Studie hat gezeigt, daß jene Patientinnen am wenigsten unter einem Abbau ihrer geistigen Kräfte litten, die täglich eine kleine Menge Alkohol tranken.
Die Krankenschwestern im Alter von 70 bis 81 Jahren wurden entsprechend Ihrem Alkoholkonsum in drei Gruppen eingeteilt. Diejenigen, die täglich zwischen 1 und 14.9 Gramm Alkohol tranken wurden jenen Berufskolleginnen gegenübergestellt, die angaben entweder mehr Alkohol, oder überhaupt keinen Alkohol zu trinken. Es zeigte sich bei den entsprechenden Tests, daß die geistige Spannkraft im Vergleich zu den mäßigen Trinkerinnen auch dann stärker abnahm, wenn die Seniorinnen der Gesundheit zu liebe ganz abstinent lebten.

Go for drink ladies! - Proper drinking habits may improve women health

There is good news for female drinkers. A study published yesterday, jointly, by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the School of Public Health have found that moderate consumption of alcohol can decrease the risk of cognitive decline in women.

The researchers compiled data from 11,000 nurses between the ages of 70 and 81 about their drinking habits and cognitive ability. The large sample size was necessary to make sure that factor such as age, exercise habits, cholesterol levels, and high blood pressure would be discounted during the analysis. The women were divided into three groups based on their daily consumption of alcohol: those who drank one to 14.9 grams of wine, beer or liquor per day, those who drank up to twice that dosage and those who drank none at all. Cognitive tests were conducted on the women in 1999 and 2001.

The researchers found that women in the moderate drinking group were 20 percent less likely to show signs of cognitive decline during the two years tests were performed. Nondrinkers and heavier drinkers were not found conclusively to be at greater or less at risk of cognitive decline, and the type of alcoholic drink did not affect the risk factor.

Though great care have been taken to make the study universally applicable it is to be noted that, people who consume small amounts of alcohol seem to have better health than people who don't drink at all. It's therefore possible that the changes in cognition could be attributable to something other than alcohol intake.

Therefore, Meir Stampfer, chair of the medical school’s Department of Epidemiology, advises women to act on the results of the study “with caution.”

“Basically, older individuals who are drinking moderately should continue to do so with the knowledge that not only are they not doing themselves any harm, they’re probably also benefiting [their health],” said Stampfer. “For older individuals who don’t drink out of fear of harming their health, they might well reconsider that.”

Despite the health benefits of consuming a small quantity of alcohol each day, medical professionals are reluctant to prescribe alcohol as part of individuals’ diets, Grodstein said. She added that some people have an undiscovered predisposition to alcohol that could cause them to drink to excess.

It is very hard for people to differentiate between a little and a lot of alcohol. When you look at the individual person, everyone reacts to alcohol a little bit differently. Furthermore, Alcohol has important individual and societal risks, so one has to be very cautious. It is expected that further research into the health benefits of alcohol will investigate whether drinking moderately in a short span of time or over the long term matters most in an individual’s life and if the same results occur in men as well as women.