Don't Drink Wine? Maybe You Should

If you're at risk for cardiovascular disease and don't drink alcohol, you may want to start.

A new study shows that middle-aged non-drinkers who started to consume alchohol in moderation lowered their risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) by 38% versus those who continued abstaining.

The University of South Carolina researchers also found that wine had a significantly greater benefit versus other types of alcohol. "Wine-only drinkers had 68 percent fewer cardiovascular events, whereas the drinkers of beer, liquor and mixed drinks had only a 21 percent benefit, and that was not [statistically] significant," lead author Dana King said.

The addition of alcohol to the subject's diet did not affect mortality and actually improved cholesterol levels.

The study tracked about 460 subjects age 45 - 64 over four years. It looked at correlations between the start of alcohol consumption and cardiovascular health, and the researchers controlled for demographic and cardiovascular risk factors. However, the possibility remains that it's not the wine providing the benefit, but some other factor strongly associated with it but not examined by the researchers.

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Further reading:

Abstract in ScienceDirect

ScienceDaily article
US News article