A daily tot or two may not be mother’s ruin after all – in fact it could make her healthier.
Researchers have found that moderate alcohol consumption helps middle-aged women age better.
Total intakes of between 15.1 and 30 grams of alcohol a day – as much as two shots of spirits or nearly three small glasses of wine – improved the odds of “successful aging” by 28 per cent.
The scientists defined “successful ageing” as living to at least 70, being free of cancer, heart conditions and other chronic diseases, and suffering no significant mental or physical impairment.
Women who drank alcohol regularly throughout the week, rather than on a single occasion, benefited most.
Those who had an alcoholic drink five to seven days a week were almost 50 per cent more likely to enjoy good health in old age than non-drinkers.
The findings emerged from a major American health and lifestyle study involving 14,000 female nurses. All were participants in the US Nurses’ Health Study, launched in 1976.
For the study, the researchers assigned 13.2 grams of alcohol to one bottle of beer, 10.8 grams to one 118 millilitre glass of wine, and 15.1 grams to a single shot of spirits.
Medical records and questionnaires were used to judge successful ageing based on a range of criteria relating to health history.
Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption generally accompanied better long-term health, according to the findings published in the online journal Public Library of Science Medicine.
The authors, led by Qi Sun, from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, wrote: “Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with modestly better overall health status.
“In addition, we found that alcohol drinking pattern appeared to play an independent role in alcohol’s association with successful ageing, in that spreading out alcohol consumption during the week was associated with better overall health whereas drinking alcohol in just one to two days of a week was not.”
The study found that compared with non-drinkers, women who drank 5.1 to 15 grams of alcohol a day had a 19 per cent greater likelihood of successful ageing.
Those who drank 15.1 to 30 grams increased their healthy ageing odds by 28 per cent, but drinking more - 24 to 30.1 grams per day – reduced the benefit to 24 per cent.
Previous studies had shown lower rates of ailments common in old age, such as heart disease, diabetes and dementia, among people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol, said the authors.
Research showed that moderate alcohol consumption had “profound” positive effects in the body, reducing insulin resistance, inflammation, high cholesterol and other harmful processes.