New research concludes that previous studies on the health benefits of moderate alcohol drinking may be flawed, Healthscout reported Sept. 14.
According to researchers in Japan, many of the previous studies erroneously grouped ex-drinkers in with life-long abstainers, inflating the apparent protective effects of alcohol. Dr. Yoshitaka Tsubono, lead author or the study of 25 000 Japanese men aged 40 to 64, explained that people who quit drinking have a higher risk of dying than those who never drank. When former drinkers were factored into the study, the Japanese researchers concluded that moderate drinkers do not have a lower mortality rate than teetotallers.

While previous studies have shown that moderate drinking lowers blood pressure by increasing levels of HDL, known as the good cholesterol Tsubono noted that, “Many, but not all, of these studies showing the decreased risk of total morality associated with moderate drinking have a methodological problem in that they do not separate never-drinkers and ex-drinkers. Ex drinkers might have quit drinking due to ill health and had higher mortality than never-drinkers.”

“The main endpoint of this study is all-cause mortality rather than coronary heart disease,” said Tsubono, a research associate with the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Sendai, Japan. Our findings should caution researchers and the public to reconsider the existing evidence and the popular notion that moderate drinking is good for general health.”

Source: Author Dr. Yoshitaka Tsubono, published issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association Sep 2001