The type of alcohol consumed could influence the risk of premature death, according to a new study of more than 340,000 people. The researchers found important differences between the consumption of beer, wine and spirits, including in mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease.
The results show that even moderate alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of death from cancer, News Medical writes.
The study, published in the scientific journal Nutrition Journal, looked at the relationship between the amount and type of alcohol consumed and long-term mortality risk.
The researchers used data from 340,924 participants from the UK Biobank, a large UK biomedical database. The average age of the people included in the analysis was approximately 56 years, and the monitoring was carried out for an average period of 13.4 years.
In this interval, 22,381 deaths were registered.
The scientists looked at both overall mortality and deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease and other conditions.
Beer and spirits associated with higher risks
The results showed that people who consumed large amounts of alcohol had a higher risk of death from all causes analyzed, compared to people who did not consume alcohol or drank very rarely.
However, the researchers observed differences depending on the type of alcoholic drink.
High consumption of beer and cider was associated with higher all-cause and cause-specific mortality, including cancer and cardiovascular disease.
An important result was that even a low consumption of beer or cider was associated with an increase in cancer mortality.
In the case of spirits, researchers have identified associations between consumption and increased risk of death, even at low levels of consumption.
The analysis revealed a relationship between increased alcohol intake and overall, cardiovascular and cancer mortality, a relationship mainly influenced by the consumption of beer, cider and spirits.
Red wine, associated with a lower risk of death under certain conditions
The results were different for wine.
People who consumed small amounts of wine had, in some analyses, lower mortality than those who consumed very little or none of this drink.
In particular, low or moderate consumption of red wine was associated with a lower risk of death from all causes, including cardiovascular disease and other conditions.
However, this association was not maintained at high consumption.
People who drank large amounts of red wine had a higher risk of overall and cancer mortality.
In the case of white wine, high consumption was associated with increased mortality from all causes, including cancer.
Also, high consumption of fortified wine was associated with a higher risk of death.
The researchers point out that these results do not prove that red wine protects the body. The observed differences could also be explained by other factors, such as diet, level of physical activity or other characteristics of the people analyzed.
Even moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with an increased risk of cancer
One of the most important research results concerns the link between alcohol consumption and cancer.
The analysis showed that people who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol had a higher risk of cancer mortality, even though no significant increase in overall mortality was identified for this category of consumption.
The researchers analyzed 20 categories of cancer deaths, depending on the location of the disease.
For 15 of these, they identified associations between total alcohol consumption or certain types of drinks and increased mortality, after applying statistical corrections.
Among the diseases targeted are cancers of the head and neck region, those of the respiratory system, digestive system, liver and gall bladder, as well as some hematological, breast and genital cancers.
The results support existing concerns about the effects of alcohol consumption on cancer risk, including when the amounts consumed are not very large.
Does it matter if alcohol is consumed during the meal?
The study also looked at the relationship between the timing of alcohol consumption and mortality.
The researchers observed that people who used to drink alcohol sometimes or usually during meals had a lower mortality.
In contrast, non-meal drinking was associated with more pronounced negative effects on mortality, particularly at high levels of consumption.
However, scientists have not proven that combining alcohol with food directly reduces its harmful effects.
People who drink alcohol at meals may have different eating habits or lifestyles that influence the results.
What amount of alcohol was considered “moderate” in the study
To analyze the results, the researchers divided the participants into several categories, depending on the amount of pure alcohol consumed.
The reference group included non-drinkers or occasional drinkers of no more than 20 grams of pure alcohol per week.
In the study, reduced consumption was defined as:
For men: more than 20 grams of alcohol per week, but no more than 20 grams per day.
For women: more than 20 grams per week, but no more than 10 grams per day.
Moderate drinking was defined as between 20 and 40 grams of alcohol per day for men and between 10 and 20 grams per day for women.
High consumption exceeded these thresholds.
For comparison, 20 grams of pure alcohol is approximately the amount contained in a 500 milliliter beer with an alcohol concentration of 5%. The same is the equivalent of a 200ml glass of wine.
These categories were used for statistical analysis only and do not represent recommendations for safe amounts of alcohol.
The researchers caution that the results do not prove that wine is healthier
The authors of the study drew attention to several limitations of the research.
First, the study is observational, which means it can identify associations between alcohol consumption and mortality, but cannot demonstrate a direct causal relationship.
In addition, information on alcohol consumption was self-reported by the participants and was mainly collected at the beginning of the monitoring period.
The researchers tried to account for factors such as age, gender, smoking, physical activity, diet, body mass index and medical history.
However, the influence of factors that were not fully measured or controlled cannot be excluded.
Another limitation is that 96.3% of the participants were white, which may reduce the applicability of the results to other populations.
Although low or moderate wine consumption was associated with lower mortality in some settings, the researchers emphasize that this result is not proof of a protective effect.
The main conclusion of the study is that high alcohol consumption, regardless of the type of drink, is associated with an increased risk of death, and even moderate consumption is associated with higher cancer mortality.
The authors remind that the World Health Organization warns that there is no level of alcohol consumption that can be considered without health risks.
