Red wine re-instated if you are old enough…..

About six months ago I  happened to hear two eminent medical professors, on the same day, extolling the virtues of a virtually limitless consumption of dark chocolate and coffee for those in their later years but warning against the over consumption of alcohol, even that resveratrol filled red wine. Not only warning against over consumption, but suggesting that abjuring it altogether would be a good idea.  Oh dear…..

But now a report from the Global Burden of Diseases study, a rolling project based at the University of Washington in Seattle, which produces the most comprehensive data on the causes of illness and death in the world, has offered some comfort to older drinkers. While suggesting that ideally that everyone should minimise their intake, their findings suggest that as you get older you can drink a certain amount of alcohol without ill effects – indeed even with possible benefit.

For a fuller report see this article in the Guardian or this press release in the IHME but their conclusions suggest that:

• Both sexes aged 15-39 will start to risk their health when they drink more than  quarter of a standard drink a day (a standard drink being a 100ml glass of 13% alcohol red wine or a 375ml can of 3.5% beer).
• For both sexes aged over 40 and in good health a small amount of alcohol a day was linked to a reduction in the risk of ischaemic heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• Those between 40 and 64 can safely drink from half a standard drink to two standard drinks a day.
• For those over 65, the ‘safe’ limit was raised to three a bit standard drinks a day!

What can I say…..