The Type of Alcohol You Drink and When May Determine Mortality Risk

New research suggests that among older adults with health or socioeconomic risk factors, even low alcohol consumption can increase the risk of mortality from cancer and cardiovascular disease. However, certain types of alcohol, and when it's consumed, may decrease the risks.

Over the past few years, researchers have found evidence contradicting the belief that moderate consumption of alcohol may provide health benefits. The belief emerged after some studies suggested that moderate alcohol use, particularly wine, may be beneficial for heart health.

However, since then, some reports suggest that previous research showing an association between moderate drinking and cardiovascular benefits or longevity had serious flaws.

Moreover, more recent research has found that even low levels of alcohol consumption can increase the risk of cancer, and people who consume alcohol may be at higher risk of more than 200 different health conditions.

Now, a new study published on August 12 in JAMA Network Open provides more evidence that drinking may negatively affect heart health, cancer risks, and mortality. However, the study's authors also found that the type of alcohol consumed and when drinking occurs may impact these risks.

Alcohol's impact on mortality

To conduct the study, the research team gathered data from 135,103 older adults aged 60 or older from the UK Biobank, a population-based cohort. They categorized the participants' by the amount of alcohol consumed per day from low risk to high risk.

The team also determined whether the participants had any health-related or socioeconomic risk factors such as frailty or living in a lower-income area.

Then, the team assessed the participants' all-cause and cause-specific mortality over a 12-year follow-up period.

The scientists found that compared to occasional drinking, low-risk drinking patterns of 2.86 to 20.00 grams of alcohol per day for men and 2.86 to 10.00 grams per day for women, were linked to a higher risk of cancer-related mortality among older adults with health or socioeconomic risk factors.

The study also showed that moderate drinking (over 20.00 to 40.00 grams per day for men and over 10.00 to 20.00 grams per day for women) increased the risk of death from all causes and cancer.

Participants with high alcohol intake (over 40.00 grams per day for men and over 20.00 grams per day for women) had an increased risk of mortality from all causes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

However, participants who preferred to drink wine or only consumed alcohol during meals appeared to have a slightly lower risk of alcohol-related mortality.

"Wine preference (>80% of alcohol from wine) and drinking with meals showed small protective associations with mortality, especially from cancer, but only in drinkers with socioeconomic or health-related risk factors," the study's authors wrote.

They note that wine consumption or drinking during meals appeared to reduce the excess mortality associated with all drinking patterns, including high-risk drinking.

The researchers say that this surprising finding requires further investigation.

Why would drinking impact people differently?

The researchers suggest that the slightly lower mortality risks associated with wine drinking or consuming alcohol with food might not be due to alcohol itself but to other factors. These include antioxidant compounds found in wine, slower absorption of alcohol when consumed with food, and the spacing of drinks that occurs when drinking during a meal.

Mortality risks were also higher among individuals with socioeconomic risk factors. However, the study's authors have not identified the reasons behind this finding.

Still, the study had several limitations. For example, the participants self-reported their alcohol intake, which could have placed them in the wrong drinking pattern group. In addition, the research team only measured alcohol intake at the study's onset, so they could not account for changes in alcohol use over the participants' lifespan.

Nonetheless, the study may have important public health implications, as the results identify inequalities in adverse health outcomes associated with alcohol use. The study's authors say that these disparities should be addressed to reduce the high burden of alcohol-related health conditions and mortality.

They also note that more research is needed to investigate the potential links between drinking only during meals or consuming wine versus other alcoholic beverages and lower alcohol-related mortality risks.