Moderate drinking may benefit elderly men

Reuters Health

Monday, March 5, 2007

Reuters Health

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older men who drink moderate amounts of alcohol may function better physically than either those who abstain completely or those who abuse alcohol, a new study suggests.

Moderate drinkers tend to be healthier in general than teetotalers or problem drinkers, Dr. Peggy M. Cawthon of California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and colleagues note. There is also evidence that moderate drinking may reduce inflammation.

Cawthon and colleagues compared functional limitations, physical performance and drinking history for 5,962 men aged 65 or older who were classified into 5 categories. Men who consumed 5 or more drinks on most days were classified as having a history of sustained excessive drinking, while those who responded positively to a questionnaire used to diagnose alcoholism were classified as problem drinkers.</p>

Moderate drinkers were those who consumed between 7 and 20 drinks per week and heavy drinkers were men who consumed 21 or more drinks weekly. Abstainers made up the final group.

Moderate drinkers scored about 3 percent to 5 percent better on tests of physical function than the abstainers, the researchers found, while scores for heavy drinkers were about the same as those for the abstainers.

The abstainers were the most likely to report physical limitations to activities of daily living like walking, climbing stairs, and doing heavy housework. The heavy alcohol users were only slightly less likely than abstainers to have these limitations.

Low-moderate users, meaning men who drank between seven and 14 drinks a week, were the least likely to have functional limitations, and were at 38 percent lower risk of having these problems than abstainers.

The researchers call for more detailed studies to determine how alcohol use over time affects how functional status changes with age.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, February 2007.