French health study questioned

A new study suggesting that moderate consumption of alcohol is not necessarily good for your heart has been condemned as misleading by scientists.

An analysis on a large number of subjects in France by the Public Assistance Hospitals in Paris has shown that those who drink low to moderate amounts of alcohol are part of a higher social group that is usually healthier overall due to the lifestyle they lead, rather than benefiting from their alcohol intake.

The 149,000 test subjects, made up of 97,000 men and 52,000 women, were split into five groups; those that drank no alcohol, low amounts of alcohol, moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers and former drinkers.

The results showed that the two groups of low to moderate drinkers were healthier and often had healthy lifestyle habits, meaning that they were slimmer, had lower levels of stress and heart disease, better HDL-cholesterol, ate healthier food and exercised more.

“Importantly, the findings showed moderate alcohol consumption is a powerful general indicator of optimal social status, and this could be a key reason for improved health in these subjects,” said study author, Dr Boris Hansel.

The authors then concluded that the reason the two groups were less prone to heart disease was due more to the benefits of their social standing than any intake of alcohol.

However, Professor Curtis Ellison MD, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University and member of the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research (ISFAR), said: “The authors ignore a large number of well-conducted prospective epidemiological studies (that is looking at cause of disease and death) showing that moderate drinkers are at a lower risk over time of developing certain risk factors.”

Ellison continued by saying that the authors had ignored previous scientific literature, which showed how moderate alcohol consumption was an important factor in preventing hardening of the arteries and cardiovascular disease.

He continued by saying that they also ignored studies showing lower levels of heart disease and diabetes in moderate drinkers compared to other people who are otherwise very healthy but do not drink.

“There is no doubt that other healthy lifestyle factors play a role in the lower risk of chronic diseases among moderate drinkers, who tend to also have other healthy behaviours.

“However, over the last 30 years, a large body of scientific evidence indicates that moderate alcohol consumption is an important factor in the lower rates of such diseases; current scientific data do not support the conclusions of the authors of this paper,” concluded Ellison.

Helena Conibear, co-director of the ISFAR, told the drinks business that it was “not a fair study,” and that Hansen had gone for a “catchy title”.

Rupert Millar, 26.05.2010