Health benefits from alcohol do not start before middle age- research

07/02/05 New Zealand, There are no health benefits of drinking alcohol before middle age, according to new research released by the Alcohol Advisory Council (ALAC).

The research shows a small amount of alcohol can help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and complications of gallbladder disease.

The research estimates that approximately 1037 deaths in New Zealand in 2000 were attributable to alcohol consumption; representing 3.9 percent of all deaths. Alcohol consumption was also estimated to prevent 981 deaths in the same year, resulting in a net loss of 56 lives. However the deaths resulting from alcohol occur mostly in much younger people than those who receive the benefits.

The burden of mortality from alcohol use was not evenly spread in the population. The rate of alcohol-attributable years of life lost (YLLs) in men was four to five times the rate in women, largely due to high alcohol-related mortality in men in the 15-44 year age group.

The research is contained in The Burden of Death, Disease and Disability due to Alcohol in New Zealand released by ALAC. ALAC funded the study on the burden of death, disease and disability attributable to alcohol consumption in New Zealand using the comparative risk assessment (CRA) methodology that was developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for measuring the impact of important risk factors on health at a regional and global level.

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