A daily glass of wine keeps you slim

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

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The French might be onto something — a daily glass of wine may actually be good for your waistline, researchers in the US have found.

A long-term study of nearly 20,000 American women found that those who enjoyed a glass of wine or two a day put less weight on than their teetotalling counterparts.

The study suggests that the body processes kilojoules from alcohol in a different way to those in food, using them as energy, rather than storing them as fat — so if a small glass of wine is consumed instead of a calorific food, it will result in less stored energy.

Researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital studied survey data from 19,220 participants in the long-running Women's Health Study. The researchers examined the drinking habits of women over the age of 39 who had a normal body mass index (18.5 to 25). Their weight gain and measurements was then monitored for the next 13 years.

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All of the women inevitably gained weight, however the four in 10 who abstained from alcohol became overweight or obese, researchers found.

Surprisingly, those who gained the least amount of weight were those who enjoyed alcohol in moderation — around a glass of wine or two a day.

But not all alcohol was deemed equal say researchers, red wine was considered to be kinder to the waistline than beer or spirits.

The researchers cautioned not to take these findings as a license to drink, however.

"We don't recommend people start drinking," the lead author of the study, Dr Lu Wang, told the Los Angeles Times. "All we found is that for women who are normal weight and already drink, they can keep their drinking habit without fear of gaining more weight. But be sure to keep the amount light to moderate, exercise regularly and eat healthy. All of those factors will help you to maintain weight."

The results were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

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User reviews

Is your goal to lose weight or be healthy? Alcohol is toxic to your body. You can also lose weight by starving yourself or taking drugs - but that's not healthy either! Have you been to the hospital lately? There are a lot of sick skinny people there. If you set a goal to lose weight you are on the wrong track. Your goal should always be to be healthy. If you eat well, exercise well and think well, then you will be healthy. Being thin or overweight, happy or sad, having high energy or being fatigued etc. are the EFFECTS of being healthy or sick. Studies show that people who eat more fruits and vegetables, exercise more, drink less alcohol, have more positive and loving thoughts are healthier than people who don't. THE QUESTION FOR RESEARCHERS SHOULD BE "DOES ALCOHOL HAVE A TOXIC EFFECT ON HUMAN CELL FUNCTION" and not, "Are people who drink alcohol skinnier than people who don't?" Remember, everyone in this study gained weight!!!! The QUESTION is EVERYTHING!

Yes this article is incorrect in stating that the body processess the calories in alcohol differently by not storing them as fat. But that's about as far as the science and reasoning in this article goes. Alcohol is not stored as fat because alcohol is a low grade poison and the body has no desires or the ability to store it within the body. So the body must make the alcohol which was consumed as it's main energy source to rid the body of it. Alcohol's energy density (7cal per gram) is nearly as dense as fat's! Because alcohol once consumed becomes the main fuel source of the body, any food stuffs consumed during this period will most likely be stored as fat as the body is still trying to burn off the alcohol. Studies like this do not take into account the different lifestyle factors which contribute to these women's slimmer waistlines.

I think it is important to take this finding for what it is - that women who drink alcohol in moderation tend to gain less weight. It is not much more than an observation at this stage. There is no evidence that there is a chemical or biological cause and effect relationship where drinking wine actually breaks down fat or prevents over eating and therefore obesity. Humans are very complex organisms, there is a lot more to our health than one single element. As a guess I would say it's more likely that women who drink in moderation probably do a lot of other things in moderation too - like eating and exercising. As a health professional, I have learnt to read the actual findings of a study, and take them on board with a grain of salt. What I take from this, is that a glass of wine most nights isn't going to cause you to gain more weight than you would anyway. That's all.

I was just thinking about giving up my daily glass or two of wine, but now, I won't! Seems the old adage, "everything in moderation" is true.

Great study, for me I sell wine direct to the public and I will be using this a a selling tool for the next month or so when talking to potential clients. I might add though that we already know that wine is the only alcoholic drink that doctors have recommended for years and that way back when??? it was used for medicinal purposes. PB

Whats in the red wine that helps to reduce weight than the white wine since I enjoy white than the red.

How can whoever wrote this, live with themselves Alcohol has detroyed peoples lives not make them better... How many people, does anyone know from the human race, know of many people who will only drink " 1 glass of wine" ??.. Lets get real and start writing about reality.. Ok ? Silly, naive, editor..

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