Healthy drinking theory disputed by an expert

02/12/05 Studies published in the 1970s and 1980s have suggested that small to moderate amounts of alcohol can protect against heart disease, and that this benefit outweighs any adverse health effects of light drinking.

But this research is flawed, according to Dr. Rod Jackson, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. "All the current research on alcohol and heart disease is from nonrandomized studies, which means it is prone to bias," he said.

Jackson and his colleagues make their case in an article in the Dec. 3 issue of The Lancet.

Jackson said that nondrinkers are different from light-to-moderate drinkers, who are also different from heavy drinkers. "So, it is likely that the apparent benefits of light-to-moderate drinking on the heart are overestimated because light-to-moderate drinkers are light-to-moderate in their other behaviors as well, which is giving them some of the observed benefits, rather than the alcohol," he said.

In addition, heavier drinking is associated with increased heart disease, "but the adverse effect may be in part to do with heavier drinkers having other 'heavy' behaviors that give them more heart disease," Jackson said. "We probably overestimate the benefits of light-to-moderate drinking on the heart and overestimate the harms of heavier drinking on the heart."

While drinking may not protect your heart, it may not be a danger, Jackson added. "There are probably no levels of drinking that give you any health benefits, but up to one to two drinks per day is not harmful, just neutral," he said.

"Don't drink to protect yourself from heart disease risk," Jackson said. "Drink modestly, up to one to two drinks per day maximum, if you enjoy alcohol, but don't kid yourself that it is protecting your heart."

One expert agreed there is no proof that alcohol protects you from heart disease, and that moderate drinking is probably not harmful.