While getting inebriated every weekend may not be the healthiest thing you can do for your body or mind, moderate alcohol use may have significant health benefits. It should be mentioned that the benefits of alcohol use vary depending on an individual’s body type and makeup.
According to the American Dietary Guidelines, “Drinking up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for males is considered moderate alcohol consumption. This definition refers to the amount ingested on a particular day and is not meant to be taken as a daily average.”
We’ve all heard why alcohol is harmful for you, but what about the positive aspects? Here are seven ways that moderate alcohol consumption (when you’re of legal drinking age, of course) may boost your health.
1. It Can Lower Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease
Harvard University’s School of Public Health discovered that “High-density lipoprotein, or ‘good’ cholesterol, is raised by moderate amounts of alcohol, and higher HDL levels are linked to a lower risk of heart disease. Moderate alcohol use has also been associated to a number of positive effects, ranging from improved insulin sensitivity to increases in blood clotting factors…. Small blood clots that can block arteries in the heart, neck, and brain, the ultimate cause of many heart attacks and the most prevalent type of stroke, are less likely to form as a result of these alterations.” This observation holds true for both men and women who have never been diagnosed with any sort of cardiovascular illness.
2. It Can Lengthen Your Life
Drinking on occasion may extend your life by a few years. According to Reuters, a study from the Catholic University of Campobasso found that consuming less than four or two drinks per day could cut the chance of death by 18 percent for men and women, respectively. “Little amounts, ideally around meals, appears to be the right method (to drink alcohol),” said Catholic University’s Dr. Giovanni de Gaetano, another research author. “Another characteristic of the Mediterranean diet is that alcohol, particularly wine, is a great partner for a supper or lunch, but that’s it: the rest of the day must be alcohol-free.”
3. It Can Improve Your Libido
Newer study suggests that, contrary to popular opinion, moderate drinking can help prevent erectile dysfunction in the same way as red wine can help prevent heart disease. Researchers discovered that alcohol drinkers have a 25% to 30% lower risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine. The study was done with 1,770 Australian men by the lead researcher, Kew-Kim Chew, an epidemiologist at the University of Western Australia. Chew cautioned in his study that he and his colleagues are not urging men to drink excessively, and that more research is needed to precisely link impotence and alcohol intake.
4. It Helps Prevent Against the Common Cold
While smoking enhanced vulnerability to the common cold, moderate alcohol consumption reduced common cold instances in nonsmokers, according to Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Psychology. In 1993, 391 persons participated in this study. According to the New York Times, Spanish researchers discovered in 2002 that drinking eight to fourteen glasses of wine each week, particularly red wine, reduced the chance of getting a cold by 60%. The researchers assumed it had anything to do with wine’s antioxidant capabilities.
5. It Can Decrease Chances Of Developing Dementia
Moderate drinkers were 23 percent less likely than heavy drinkers to acquire cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, and other kinds of dementia, according to a study published in the journal Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. “Small doses of alcohol may improve the fitness of brain cells. Moderate doses of alcohol stress cells, toughening them up to deal with future severe stresses that could lead to dementia “According to Science Daily, Edward J. Neafsey, Ph.D., a co-author of the study, “We don’t advise nondrinkers to start drinking,” stated Neafsey. “However, moderate drinking — if done correctly — can be good.”
6. It Can Reduce The Risk Of Gallstones
According to experts at the University of East Anglia, drinking two units of alcohol each day can cut the risk of gallstones by one-third. According to the study, those who reported using two UK units of alcohol per day had a one-third lower incidence of gallstones. According to the study, “researchers noted that their findings illustrate the benefits of moderate alcohol consumption but stress that excessive alcohol consumption can cause health concerns.”
7. Lowers The Chance Of Diabetes
According to the findings of a Dutch study, healthy persons who drink one to two glasses of wine per day had a lower risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes than those who don’t drink at all. “The findings of the study demonstrate that moderate alcohol use can contribute to a healthy lifestyle and help minimize the incidence of type 2 diabetes,” researchers told Reuters in a statement.
