Teetotalers who are convinced that steering clear of alcohol consumption is the best way to stay healthy are in for a surprise.
Heavy drinkers may have discovered the key to staying happy and fit in later life, according to a new German study.
A German hospital handed out questionnaires to 628 adults, aged 60 and above, who had arrived for routine surgery. The participants of the study, carried out between 2018 and 2019, included 231 women and 397 men. They all underwent elective operations lasting at least an hour.
The participants, with an overall average age of 72, were questioned about their mood and quality of life before their procedure and 180 days later, at follow-up appointments.
But what makes the study particularly intriguing is that the information in the questionnaires was compared with details the participants had shared about their alcohol consumption.
The patients had been asked to describe their drinking habits using the AUDIT-C (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test for Consumption) survey. It evaluates frequency, amounts consumed, and occurrences of heavy drinking.
Those surveyed were categorised into two groups: no or low alcohol consumption (LAC) and medium to potentially hazardous (HAC) - those admitting to drinking potentially unhealthy amounts accounting for 30 percent of the patients, 138 men (22 percent) and 48 women (8 percent).
This was presumed to be at least four nights a week, or regularly drinking the equivalent of two bottles of wine in one day.
The post-surgery analyses, presented at Euroanaesthesia 2022 in Milan, revealed that this group of drinkers were slimmer, boasted improved mobility, and fewer problems undertaking daily activities than those who drank less or were abstainers.
“Our study finds that older patients with potentially unhealthy alcohol intake report that some aspects of their quality of life are better compared with those who abstain from alcohol or drink at very low levels,” the study’s author, Vera Guttenthaler from University Hospital Bonn, said in a media release.
“One explanation may be that higher alcohol consumption could lead to elevated mood, enhanced sociability and reduced stress,” she added.
The study also showed a difference between women and men who drank alcohol. Women who consumed "potentially unhealthy" levels of alcohol reported a better quality of life throughout the study. Men reported similar levels of health pre-surgery, regardless of the amount they drank, but after surgery, heavy drinkers had "significantly higher" scores for health and wellbeing.
Dr Maria Wittmann, a co-author of the research into the effect alcohol has on surgical outcomes, said it was "an exciting topic for further study". However, she also warned:
"Only a tendency in the relationship of alcohol consumption and quality of life could be assumed."
Generally, health officials recommend drinking no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. This is roughly equivalent to seven pints of beer or 10 small glasses of wine.
Earlier in the year, new recommendations were offered by the World Heart Federation (WHF) in a policy brief.
It underscored that drinking alcohol has been linked to a slew of diseases such as increased risk of cardiovascular disease, coronary disease, stroke, heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, and aneurysm.
“No amount of alcohol is good for the heart,” stated the WHF, adding to the controversy regarding so-called health benefits of moderate drinking, such as a glass of red wine a night with dinner.