Drinking alcohol may reduce risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes in people over 40 years: Lancet

If you are over 40 and have no underlying health conditions a small glass of red wine or a can or bottle of beer or a shot of whiskey or other spirits may help reduce risk of cardiovascular disease stroke and diabetes according to a new analysis published in The LancetHowever the study showed that young people may face higher health risks from alcohol consumption than older adultsIn particular for males aged 1539 drinking alcohol does not provide any health benefits They constitute the largest segment of the population drinking unsafe amounts of alcohol and are at health risk with 60 per cent of alcoholrelated injuries occurring among people in this age group including motor vehicle accidents suicides and homicidesOur message is simple young people should not drink but older people may benefit from drinking small amounts While it may not be realistic to think young adults will abstain from drinking we do think its important to communicate the latest evidence so that everyone can make informed decisions about their health said Dr Emmanuela Gakidou professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation IHME at the University of Washingtons School of MedicineFor the study the team looked at the risk of alcohol consumption on 22 health outcomes including injuries cardiovascular diseases and cancers using 2020 Global Burden of Disease data for males and females aged 1595 years and older between 1990 and 2020 in 204 countries and territoriesIn general for individuals aged 4064 years safe alcohol consumption levels ranged from about half a standard drink per day 0527 drinks for males and 0562 standard drinks per day for females to almost two standard drinks 169 standard drinks per day for males and 182 for femalesFor individuals over 65 years the risks of health loss from alcohol consumption were reached after consuming a little more than three standard drinks per day 319 drinks for males and 351 for femalesOn the other hand the recommended amount of alcohol for people aged 1539 before risking health loss was 0136 standard drinks per day a little more than onetenth of a standard drinkThat amount was slightly higher for females aged 1539 years at 0273 drinks about a quarter of a standard drink per dayThe findings also suggest that global alcohol consumption recommendations should be based on age and locationOne standard drink per day was found to be safe among individuals aged 5559 in north Africa and the Middle East and about half a standard drink per day in central subSaharan AfricaOverall the recommended alcohol intake for adults remained low at between 0187 standard drinks per day regardless of geography age sex or year the researchers saidAlso Read Video games enhance brain activity decisionmaking skills StudyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever