The scientific research on drinking and health has never stopped, and it seems that a new conclusion will pop up every once in a while. But generally speaking, many studies have unified the relationship between alcohol consumption and health. That is: every drop of wine is harmful to health**
For example, a previous study in the lancet, which covered 28 million drinkers, found that there was no so-called "safe intake" of alcohol; The World Heart Federation (WHF) pointed out in a briefing published in early 2022 that there is no safe drinking dose. Even if you drink a small amount of wine, it will change your physiological function and affect your health over the years.
But sometimes drinkers can't help it. They must drink one mouthful to enjoy themselves. It's best to carefully choose the type of wine before drinking.
Data from a recent study by Iowa State University suggest that in order to offset the negative impact of alcohol as much as possible, it is best to drink wine instead of beer and spirits.
We often hear the saying of "beer belly", but no one has ever said "red wine belly". Why is this phenomenon? In addition to the more popular beer culture, more people drink it. The new research may give us some enlightenment from the physiological mechanism. The research mainly focuses on the relationship between different wines and fat storage process. They found that beer is more likely to cause heat accumulation. Of course, one of the indicators that the research focuses on is visceral fat, rather than the subcutaneous fat most directly related to beer belly. Although visceral fat is not as conspicuous as beer belly, it is usually considered to be related to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and other complications.
According to the data and sample analysis of 1869 adults, drinking beer and spirits is related to the increase of visceral fat level. But drinking wine does not have this connection, and it can even protect the body from the harmful effects of visceral fat.
If you want to really recognize whether alcohol is good or bad, you need to understand two popular hypotheses. One believes that alcohol promotes fat storage by reducing lipid oxidation, that is, alcohol will slow down fat metabolism on the basis of bringing additional calories.
The other believes that alcohol will hinder calorie absorption and increase energy consumption. When consumed with food, it will even lose weight.
The two hypotheses are even somewhat contradictory, which is likely that these conclusions did not distinguish between the types of drinking of the subjects before they were drawn. The research published in obesity science and practice by researchers at Iowa State University considered the specific effects of four common wines, including beer, white wine (sparkling wine), red wine and spirits.
According to their analysis of the body composition of drinkers, beer and spirits simply provide calories, but red wine also provides polyphenols. Resveratrol is one of the common polyphenols in red wine, which can reduce inflammation and prevent fat storage. This is probably one reason why drinking red wine is not easy to accumulate abdominal fat.
Red wine has the highest resveratrol level of all wines, so regular drinking of red wine also shows a correlation with reduced visceral fat levels.
In addition to red wine, drinking white wine is significantly related to higher bone mineral density, which may be related to the high content of protocatechuic acid in white wine.
This suggests that drinking white wine in the elderly may be better for bone health. People who are afraid of getting fat can choose to drink red wine.
Dr. Brittany Larsen, one of the researchers, summed up the core of the study in one sentence: "not all alcohol is the same," she pointed out that many elderly people may think that drinking a little wine is good for the heart and blood vessels. But wine may be the only wine that offers benefits.
Drinkers really want to drink. They'd better not drink beer and spirits.
People who don't drink don't have to start drinking for the little potential health benefits of alcohol.
reference material:
[1] Not All Kinds of Alcohol Are Equally Bad For Body Fat， Study Suggests。 Retrieved Apr 28th， 2022 from https：//www.sciencealert.com/not-all-kinds-of-alcohol-are-equally-bad-for-body-fat-study-suggests
[2] Beer， wine， and spirits differentially influence body composition in older white adults–a United Kingdom Biobank study。 Obesity Science & Practice (2022)。 DOI： 10.1002/osp4.598
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