Nutrition: Diet May Drive Data on Beer, Wine and Health
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
Published: January 31, 2006 .
NY TIMES
Are wine drinkers healthier than beer drinkers?
If that is the case, it may have less to do with their choice of drink than with what they eat with it.
A new study found that shoppers who bought wine in supermarkets were much more likely to buy healthy foods like olives and low-fat cheese than were beer buyers, who were more partial to things like chips. The study, which was conducted in Denmark, appears online in the British journal BMJ.
Studies have linked a moderate amount of alcohol use with better health, and this is especially true when it comes to wine, which has components that may help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. Still, it is possible that whatever health benefits wine drinkers enjoy actually result from overall better diets, some studies have suggested.
The problem for researchers has been getting an accurate reading on people's diets in general and alcohol use in particular. Those being surveyed often understate their alcohol use and overstate their consumption of healthy foods.
So for this study, the researchers tracked the sale of wine and beer over a six-month period at 98 supermarkets, then looked at what kinds of food the shoppers bought. In all, the study examined about three and a half million transactions.
"We used information on what people buy, and presumably consume, rather than what they say they eat or drink," the researchers wrote.
One author, Dr. Morten Gronbaek, said the researchers had expected to find differences in buying patterns, but not to the extent that they did.
There are other reasons wine drinkers may be healthier than beer drinkers, the researchers said. Wine tends to be drunk with food, and in smaller amounts, they noted, possibly affecting how the body metabolizes it. And wine drinkers tend to be better educated and better off financially than beer drinkers — factors that would also help account for their better health.
This article was found on NY Times Online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/health/31nutr.html
Published: January 31, 2006 .
NY TIMES
Are wine drinkers healthier than beer drinkers?
If that is the case, it may have less to do with their choice of drink than with what they eat with it.
A new study found that shoppers who bought wine in supermarkets were much more likely to buy healthy foods like olives and low-fat cheese than were beer buyers, who were more partial to things like chips. The study, which was conducted in Denmark, appears online in the British journal BMJ.
Studies have linked a moderate amount of alcohol use with better health, and this is especially true when it comes to wine, which has components that may help prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. Still, it is possible that whatever health benefits wine drinkers enjoy actually result from overall better diets, some studies have suggested.
The problem for researchers has been getting an accurate reading on people's diets in general and alcohol use in particular. Those being surveyed often understate their alcohol use and overstate their consumption of healthy foods.
So for this study, the researchers tracked the sale of wine and beer over a six-month period at 98 supermarkets, then looked at what kinds of food the shoppers bought. In all, the study examined about three and a half million transactions.
"We used information on what people buy, and presumably consume, rather than what they say they eat or drink," the researchers wrote.
One author, Dr. Morten Gronbaek, said the researchers had expected to find differences in buying patterns, but not to the extent that they did.
There are other reasons wine drinkers may be healthier than beer drinkers, the researchers said. Wine tends to be drunk with food, and in smaller amounts, they noted, possibly affecting how the body metabolizes it. And wine drinkers tend to be better educated and better off financially than beer drinkers — factors that would also help account for their better health.
This article was found on NY Times Online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/31/health/31nutr.html
posted by Karen Herrmann-DeSantis, Herb Specialist, Natural Health Educator | 10:52 AM
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