Low to moderate wine consumption associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality

Alcohol consumption and its associations with disease and overall mortality are still extensively discussed. The current study provides further evidence of beneficial associations between low to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages, particular wine, and major mortality outcomes, including mortality from cardiovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease, cancer, and alcohol-related diseases.

The findings described a J-shaped relationship between the consumption of alcoholic beverages and overall mortality and mortality from major diseases (cardiovascular disease, ischaemic heart disease and stroke) in this large Norwegian study (187,294 participants, and more than two decades of follow-up). Alcohol consumption and cancer mortality show no association at lower consumption levels, but increase at higher levels of drinking. These observations are well in line with the majority of epidemiological studies on alcoholic beverages and disease outcomes. It was also examined whether the type of beverage makes a difference in health outcomes. The authors concluded that low to moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages (*), particulalrly wine, was associated with lower all-cause mortality compared with abstention. This association effect was largely driven by wine consumption, irrespective of concurrent beer or wine intake.

However, the reported beverage-specific effects may be confounded by unrecorded factors that were not accounted for, such as smoking intensity and duration, diet, drinking pattern, and socioeconomic variables.

(*) Consumption of alcoholic beverages was assessed using a questionnaire that asked about beer, wine and spirits consumption, expressed as glasses over the preceding 14 days.
Low to moderate consumption: 1-9 glasses of an alcoholic beverage/14 days